


While You Were Sleeping

by betheflame



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Carol Danvers, BAMF Pepper Potts, Bucky Barnes Is a Good Bro, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Ransom Drysdale Being an Asshole, Slow Burn, Social Worker Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony and Ransom Are Not In Love I Promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:26:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 65,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23350927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betheflame/pseuds/betheflame
Summary: It's beenyearssince Steve Grant Rogers Drysdale has spoken to his twin, Ransom. So it was quite a shock when he was summoned to a hospital and found out that Ransom was in a coma.Even more shocking? That Ransom is engaged. To Tony Stark.____AWhile You Were SleepingAU for Marvel Trumps Hate 2019.
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Pepper Potts/James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Ransom Drysdale & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599898
Comments: 435
Kudos: 531
Collections: Marvel Trumps Hate 2019, Steve's Birthday Party (PotsCast), Tony's Birthday Party (PotsCast)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FearlessBenson](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FearlessBenson/gifts).



> Markey asked for a Stony tale and said she'd love an AU, so, darling, I hope this fits the bill. Ransom Drysdale is CEvans' character in the movie _Knives Out_ , FYI.
> 
> Oh, and this fills my TSB square for "Movie Retelling"  
> Card #3017  
> Square: A5 "Movie Retelling"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to [ko](https://kocuria.tumblr.com/) for the main banner and the chapter headers throughout the story

* * *

* * *

Tony Stark was not one for relationships.

He quite enjoyed _relations_ , in the biblical sense, but relationships, as far as he was concerned, were trouble. Relationships meant that people knew your business and could stick their nose in it and that wasn’t something he was interested in. His best friend Rhodey, and Rhodey’s wife Pepper, were about as much as he could handle. Oh, and his sometimes inventing buddy, Bruce. He was good because Bruce never really asked questions about life, just about science. Science questions were good questions. Life questions? Not so much.

Which is why his arrangement with Ransom Drysdale was working just great. They had a lot of sex, went to a ton of parties, and there were no strings.

Because Tony didn’t want strings.

No matter how much he sometimes craved being taken care of, or to have someone to take care of - strings weren’t worth it. Strings came with pain, came with betrayal, came with…

Now, as he lazed on the couch in the VIP section of Ravelry and watched Ransom dance/have clothed upright sex with a girl whose name Tony did not know, Tony was more convinced than ever than this was all _fine_. That’s why he was eight whiskeys into his night and hadn’t talked to Ransom in an hour. Because everything was _fine_ and he was happy.

“ _Tones, if you were happy, you’d actually be happy,_ ” Rhodey’s voice popped into his head.

“What do you know, Rhodey,” Tony mumbled out loud. “Married, baby on the way, mortgage, all the chains. Who wants that?”

Tony certainly didn’t. Tony had no interest in adulthood.

“ _Goddamn liar,_ ” Rhodey’s voice again. “ _You are a coward and a liar_.”

Well, fuck. Inner!Rhodey only called him a coward when he was pretty sauced. Time to either blackout or stop. Tony looked at his glass, noticed it was empty, and started to signal to the server that he’d take another when he caught Ransom stalking over.

“Come on, Tony,” Random collapsed next to Tony and nuzzled his ear. “Let’s get out of here.”

Ransom’s hand was cupping Tony’s cock and rubbing his hand up and down. Ransom was a larger man than Tony - both physically and in terms of how he lived life. Which served Tony well on more than one level. Ransom took up space, with his shoulders and with his ego and with his bravado and with the air of entitlement he wore like a cape. Ransom Drysdale was important and if you didn’t agree with him, you could go fuck yourself.

Tony wished he could have that thick of an armor.

“ _No, you don’t,_ ” Inner!Pepper was gentler than Inner!Rhodey, but still not convenient.

“You wanna call the car,” Tony mumbled, catching Ransom’s mouth with his. Ransom nodded and fished a phone out of his jacket pocket while also not removing his hand from Tony’s crotch. They made their goodbyes - which were really just waves in the general direction of bodies neither of them were particularly interested in - and stumbled outside. Hands kept wandering over each other’s bodies and Tony nearly climbed into Ransom’s arms as they waited on the towncar to be brought around to the front of the club - that position would make it easier to keep working on the bruise he was sucking into Ransom’s neck…

“Tony, your phone,” Ransom heaved out a sigh. “It’s vibrating. The one for your friend.”

Ignoring the pang that they’d been sleeping together for _a year_ and Ransom still hadn’t bothered to learn Pepper’s name, Tony detached himself and dug his phone out.

“Pep? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Fuck, I didn’t do the time change,” she groaned into the phone. “Sorry, I’m antsy and I’m used to three hours and not five and I’m sorry.”

Tony laughed and cast a quick glance at Ransom, who was punching something into his own phone and ignoring Tony completely. “You’re antsy in Hawaii? This is your, whatchamacalit?”

“Babymoon.”

“Babymoon,” Tony repeated. “Where the fuck is Rhodey?”

“James,” Pepper ground out, “had to do a ‘quick check in on base’, I’m using the air quotes, and has been gone for three hours longer than promised.”

“Are you okay?” There was something in her tone…

“I’m fine,” Pepper replied, clearly lying. They hadn’t been friends since diapers for nothing.

“Pep-”

“Tony, car,” Ransom interrupted and grabbed Tony’s elbow.

“Two seconds, Ransom,” Tony held up a hand.

Ransom shook his head and Tony watched in slight amazement as his… lover?... climbed into the car without him and slammed the door.

“Oh, you’re with him,” Pepper’s voice was flat.

“Well, he just climbed into the car without me, so I don’t think I am,” Tony said, his voice devoid of emotion at Ransom’s behavior. “So looks like I’ve got some time! Now, tell me why you called -”

Pepper started talking, Tony could hear her voice, but all of his attention was suddenly drawn to the scene in front of him. As Ransom’s car pulled out into traffic, a motorbike cut out of nowhere and ploughed directly into it.

Directly into the exact seat where Ransom was sitting.

Directly where…

“Pep,” Tony breathed over the sound of crunching metal and screams, “I’m going to have to call you back.”

* * *

They weren’t going to let him into the ambulance, the paramedics weren’t. He wasn’t kin, or whatever the fuck, but Tony knew the tone of voice to use when he wanted people to bend to your will immediately.

_“Sir, if you are not Mr. Drysdale’s-”_

_“Ma’am, I don’t think you understand. I don’t give a rat’s ass what your regulations say or who I have to apologize to or pay off later, but I am getting in that ambulance,” Tony replied with steel in his voice._

_The EMT was obviously not impressed with the tone, but also too busy to fight it. “Fine, but you will sit where I tell you to sit. Mr. Drysdale is unconscious and we have to get him to Lenox Hill immediately.”_

And now, nearly two hours since he hung up with Pepper, he was fighting medical authorities again. He was desperate, unwilling to give up, but also unwilling to examine why taking care of this man who clearly valued him so little was so important to him.

“I have to know what is happening,” Tony growled at the nurse.

They’d done a few rounds of this already and Tony was close to calling the head of medicine - who he was sure his mother sat on at least one board with because that’s how things worked in the 1% - and demanding to be informed of Ransom’s status.

That would have been the easier route, for sure, but now this lady was pissing him off.

“ _She’s doing her job,_ ” Inner!Pepper chastised him and Tony batted her away.

“Mr. Stark, I appreciate your concern for your friend, but he is in Intensive Care and we haven’t been able to get in touch with his emergency contact. It’s 2am and his insurance company has called most of the list and left voicemails, but his family -”

“His family are full of entitled sacks of shit,” Tony laughed, “and they’re all up in Massachusetts. I am right here, right now.”

“And as far as I’m concerned,” the obviously beleaguered but stubborn nurse replied, “you are as random to him as I am, so -”

“I’m his fiancé,” Tony blurted out in a fit of both rage and hubris.

“You’re his what now?” The nurse did a double take.

“Fiancé,” Tony said, without the quaver in his voice that he felt in his soul. “We got engaged tonight, just before he got in the car, I was calling my family and Ransom was going ahead to the apartment and yes, I’m his fiancé.”

“Steve! Your brother is engaged?” A woman’s voice rang out in the hallway, tinged with both joy and confusion.

Tony turned around to see a man who is the spitting image of his fuck buddy - except this version comes with a beard, workboots, worn jeans, and a henley that has seen better days - staring at him. With him was a woman with a blonde mohawk, wearing a tank top that read “Belle’s Bookstore: Find Something There That Wasn’t There Before” under a motorcycle jacket, and a man with a messy topknot, who was wearing a curious expression along with what appeared to be his pajamas.

“Ransom and I haven’t talked in a while,” the look-alike responded with a tone in his voice Tony couldn’t quite place. “But I suppose congratulations are in order.”

Tony waved meekly. All he and Ransom had covered about the Drysdale clan was that Ransom had to do obligatory appearances at family functions to keep in good standing and that he hated every single one of them, with the possible exception of his grandpa. Whereas Tony’s family was abusive and yet distant, Ransom’s were just indifferent and Tony had always been a little jealous of that difference.

However, there had been no mention of another man their age and certainly not a brother.

_Fuckssake, Stark. You stepped in it this time._

“Tony Stark,” Tony offered his hand.

Look-Alike’s eyebrow’s raised. “As in? Got it. I’m Steve Drysdale, Ransom’s twin.”

 _Twin_.

* * *

_ Earlier That Day _

“Steven!”

Steven Grant Rogers Drysdale, or Steve Rogers to everyone he knew in this version of his life, rolled his eyes.

“Indoor voice, Pietro,” Steve replied as the teen thundered down the stairs to Steve’s workshop.

“But I needed to get your attention,” the fourteen-year-old said, with that tone that only teenagers use - especially when they think an adult is being stupid.

“And now you have it,” Steve put down the sandpaper block he was using and took off his safety glasses. “What do you need?”

“Wanda and MJ are going to the movies and I wanted an advance on my allowance so I could go?”

“Is that a statement or a question?”

Pietro paused. This was something they were working on. “A question.”

“Then it should go to Nat, shouldn’t it?”

“But Nat isn’t here,” Pietro explained. “It’s just you and Bucky and he’s in his room with the door closed and that noise coming out of it -”

“That’s his meditation music, not noise.”

“- and we’re only allowed to interrupt him upon pain of death when it’s on.” Pietro finished.

Steve paused for a moment and scratched his beard in thought. He wasn’t in charge of the finances of the kids, that was all Nat’s domain and he was loathe to make a decision without clearing it with her, but Pietro had been really responsible this past week with things they had asked him to do. “I’ll tell you what,” Steve decided. “I’m almost finished this table and you had asked to help with some of the sanding, right?”

Pietro’s eyes widened. “Yes, please.”

“I’ll pay you $20, that’s an hour of work, and I’ll do it up front right now,” Steve said. “But if you don’t do the work, you not only owe me 2 hours, you’ll forfeit payment for any other work you do on the table. Does that sound like a deal?”

Pietro nodded quickly. “Yes, thank you, that sounds, thank you.”

Steve bit back a grin. “My wallet’s in the hallway.”

As the pair climbed the stairs from the basement, they were greeted in the kitchen by a cacophony of voices. It wasn’t like life at Koinonia House was ever quiet, though. At the moment, there was a veritable gaggle of teenagers crowded around the kitchen table - some residents of the house and some not. Peter, for example, lived a few blocks over, but was dating MJ, who had been living in the house since her parents died five months previous. 

“What are you guys going to see?” Steve said loudly as he fished $20 out of his wallet and handed it to Pietro with a look, which the boy nodded to.

“Oh, hi Steve!” Peter said brightly. “There’s a new Pixar out.”

“Got it,” Steve nodded. “And what time will everyone be back?”

“Around 7,” MJ said. “Nat and Carol said we’re doing a cookout tonight?”

Steve nodded. “The weather seems good and Bucky’s been marinating the meat overnight. I’ve got the portobellos ready and I think Carol is getting some gluten-free buns, but I’ll double check that.”

The conversation moved on to planning the side dishes and would they all mind stopping by the bodega to get extra ice. Steve smiled to himself as he sat at the table with them.

Koinonia House was a grand experiment in the New York City foster care system. Instead of having a house with a married couple, or a single parent, and then kids of any age who were placed there by the state, Koinonia was intentional living and required applications. Founded by Carol Danvers in 2012, the house was a multi-generational living space that ran on Steve's specialties of restorative justice and trauma informed care. All four adults that lived in the sprawling Windsor Heights mansion were either social workers themselves (Carol and Steve) or were court appointed special advocates for children in the system (Nat and Bucky). They could house up to 10 additional residents, who all had to be over the age of 12 and had the right to stay until they were 22.

Steve and Carol had gone to college together and had met just after Steve left his family and renounced his inheritance. He had no idea how to not be the rich kid and Carol had no idea how to be the rich kid in a sea of people who were drowning in student loans and they bonded over that tension. They dated for a while, before Steve realized that his bicuriosity was just that and Carol met a girl on the softball team and before either of them knew it, they were basically family.

When Carol came into her trust fund and wanted to start Koinonia House, Steve was her first hire and they’d designed most of the program together. Carol was still in touch with her family, who were all huge supporters of the House, and the family that Steve had found not only in the Danvers but also in the residents went a long way to making him less lonely for the Drysdales.

“Yo,” a thick Brooklyn accent cut through the chatter in the kitchen and Steve turned to see Bucky Barnes enter the kitchen. “Why are there so many extra humans in my kitchen?”

“We’re leaving,” Peter said quickly.

“Chill,” MJ said. “He’s just teasing.”

Bucky’s eyes sparkled and he threw his shoulder length hair into a topknot. “I mean, I could be. Or I could be thinking this is too many people to feed and I’m cancelling the cookout.”

“Bullshit,” MJ countered back. “You’re calculating how many potatoes you’re going to make Steve peel for the salad you promised me last night.”

Bucky gave the girl a fist pound as he laughed. Steve smiled and checked his phone. Bucky and MJ had bonded quickly when the girl showed up. Steve’s theory was that MJ loved trying to throw people off their game and Bucky’s easy charm made it nearly impossible for her to do so.

“Where’s the girls?” Bucky asked Steve.

“Running errands,” Steve replied. “Carol said they were going to Walgreens to get all the meds for everyone, and then Nat said something about the gluten free bakery, so I’m guessing that ShopRite was out of rolls for Wanda for tonight.”

Bucky nodded. “So we’re in charge?”

“Well,” Steve motioned to the table, “it appears they’re all going to the new Pixar flick, so, really, we have a few hours to human.”

Bucky’s eyes went wide. “That means we get the Xbox without a schedule.”

“I was going to work on the table for the McDonoughs,” Steve replied.

“Cool, now you’re playing Assassin's Creed with me,” Bucky grinned.

The afternoon passed on the sofa, laughing with the man he’d grown up with. When Carol and Nat got home, the four segued into prepping the dinner and before Steve knew it, the backyard was full of the smells of cooking and the sounds of joy. Peter had brought his aunt - who was a nurse at Planned Parenthood - and Bucky had invited some guys he did yoga with and Nat’s coworkers from the tattoo parlor all mixed with the residents. Steve loved these kind of nights, where they could just casually show the kids different ways to adult without anything seeming like a lecture. Before he wanted it to be, it was dark and he was marshaling the various teenagers - both those who lived in the House and those who spent a lot of time there - into their cleaning tasks. When the house was appropriately cleaned, everyone ambled to their own rooms for bed.

Until 1:30 in the morning, when Steve’s phone started ringing and he woke up with a shot.

“Hello?”

_“Oh thank God someone answered, is this Steven Drysdale?”_

“Speaking,” Steve heard the tone of privileged authority creep back into his voice as his stomach dropped. Who’s dead?

 _“Hugh Drysdale has been brought to Lennox Hill Hospital in critical condition,”_ the voice continued. _“I’m Stacey Albertson, and I’m with your family estate. We can’t get a hold of any of his listed next of kin, and I know you-”_

“You were right to call,” Steve assured her. “I didn’t know he was even in New York.”

 _“For several years now,”_ Stacey said, a tone of apology in her tone. If she worked for the estate, then she knew everything.

“I’ll get to the hospital now,” Steve replied. “Where should I go?”

Stacey proceeded to give him instructions and assure him that she would continue to try to get a hold of the rest of the family and that was not his responsibility. He just had to go sign paperwork for his twin he hadn’t spoken to in five years and who was now in critical condition in the same city Steve lived in and his brain could not work fast enough for this new reality.

“Thank you, Ms. Albertson,” Steve said as he ended the call. “Thank you for calling me against Grandpa’s wishes.”

_“You’re welcome, Mr….”_

“Rogers,” Steve supplied. “I go by my aunt’s name now.”

 _“You’re welcome Mr. Rogers,”_ she said and hung up the phone.

He took three deep breaths and headed for Bucky’s room.

“Buck,” he said from the door and Bucky sat straight up in bed. Ten years of being house parents meant that none of them could sleep through their names. “It’s Ransom.”

“Fuck,” Bucky replied. “Who’s dead?”

“He might be, he’s at Lennox Hill,” Steve breathed. “Can you come?”

“You go shower quick,” Buck said, scratching his hands through his hair. “You can’t adult without a shower. You go shower, I’ll tell the girls and we’ll make a plan and I’ll see you downstairs.”

Steve nodded, grateful to be given a plan. He showered quickly, lost in his thoughts. The last time he was in the same room with Ransom was when he fished his brother out of a drunk tank in rural Connecticut. Steve had been furious and Ransom had been blasé and it had all kind of… exploded.

_“What the hell, Hugh?” Steve spat his twin’s birth name as they climbed into Steve’s truck._

_“Not so loud, bro,” Ransom winced. “Also, it’s Ransom. I only make the staff call me Hugh.”_

_“Yes, you’ve said,” Steve said through gritted teeth. “But you’ve also said that I’m no better than the staff, so wasn’t sure what name you’d want from your dear brother.”_

_“You were cooler when we were younger,” Ransom responded._

_“You were sober when we were younger,” Steve countered._

_“Was I?” Ransom smirked and fished out his phone. Steve seethed. He had never felt like his family was his, but it was times like this where the difference was really stark._

_“Where do you want me to take you,” Steve sighed, finally calm enough to speak._

_“Home, I suppose,” Ransom said, blithely._

_“You want me to drive to Duxbury? I’m not fucking driving you all the way back to Mom and Dad’s.”_

_“Oh, Steven, so provincial,” Ransom rolled his eyes. “I have an apartment in Wellesley.”_

_From the 2nd wealthiest county in the commonwealth to the first, Steve thought. “But I have to get back to Brooklyn, I can’t drive you to Boston.”_

_Ransom ignored Steve completely and made a phone call. The person on the other end sounded female and assured Ransom that she’d be willing to pick him up in Hartford since his selfish brother couldn’t take him all the way home._

_They rode the rest of the way in silence. Steve didn’t ask about Ransom’s life - the tabloids and the texts from their grandfather’s caregiver told him all he needed to know - and Ransom didn’t ask about Steve’s. Steve assumed that was because Ransom didn’t care._

_They parted ways at a Starbucks just off 95 and Steve called Bucky immediately. He ranted the entire way back to Brooklyn and then spent two days building a rocking chair to get his frustrations out._

_Fucking chair sold for $1300, which covered the bail money Ransom had so conveniently forgotten to reimburse Steve for._

“And now he’s in ICU,” Steve said to the empty bathroom. “And now he’s…” No, don’t go there, just get to the hospital.

He headed to the driveway and saw Carol climbing in the backseat of Bucky’s Outback.

“Who’s-”

“Nat is gonna stay with the kids,” Bucky answered Steve’s question before it finished. “Neither of us wanna let you out of our sight in case the parents show.”

Carol, Steve noticed, had on her Business Time Jacket - an old leather bomber she inherited from her grandmother, that she wore whenever she needed to look tougher than she felt. It was armor and Steve was grateful - he was gonna need it. They drove to the hospital in silence and kept the same after Steve checked in and was directed to the ICU.

Which is when Steve was stunned by a guy in his mid to late twenties, wearing tight dark wash jeans and a t-shirt that looked vintage but Steve bet was worth at least the equivalent of their mortgage. You didn’t grow up around money without knowing how to spot it.

The outfit wasn’t what shocked him, though, it was what came out of the guy’s mouth.

“I’m his fiancé,” the dude was saying to the nurse at the ICU desk.

“You’re his what now?” The nurse did a double take.

“Fiancé,” the man repeated and Steve could hear the privilege that tinged the man’s tone. “We got engaged tonight, just before he got in the car, I was calling my family and Ransom was going ahead to the apartment and yes, I’m his fiancé.”

“Steve! Your brother is engaged?” Carol nearly shrieked, the first words she had spoken to Steve all night. He knew what she was thinking - that if Ransom was engaged, and even more, engaged to a man, it would be on the front page of _The Boston Globe_ because their mother would have wanted all the press she could get, especially for the cache she’d think throwing a gay wedding would bring her. Something was off, here…

“Ransom and I haven’t talked in a while,” Steve fought to keep his voice even as he made eye contact with his almost-brother-in-law who looked a lot like... “But I suppose congratulations are in order.”

“Tony Stark,” the man stepped towards Steve and offered his hand.

Steve heard Bucky make a slight noise of surprise next to him and Steve’s eyebrows shot up on their own accord. “As in? Got it. I’m Steve Drysdale, Ransom’s twin.”

The look that crossed Tony’s face for a millisecond told Steve that Ransom had never told Tony that he had a twin and that did something to Steve’s gut. Even though they were estranged, if he’d gotten engaged, he would have at least texted Ransom.

There were a few beats of awkward silence before Bucky cleared his throat and offered his hand. “I’m James Barnes, and this is Carol Danvers, and we’re Steve’s housemates.”

Tony returned the pleasantries and Steve stepped over to the nurse’s station to get an update on his brother. With a glance back over his shoulder, he gave himself one second to be petty.

_Motherfucker had to go and bang my crush, didn’t he._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we hear from Steve about how he feels about... This.

* * *

“Anyone, and I mean _anyone_ , my brother is fucking has to be one of the world’s worst humans,” Steve growled as he paced back and forth in the private ICU waiting room Ransom’s fancy insurance provided for them, while Bucky sat on one of the floral couches.

“And yet,” Bucky grinned, clearly enjoying his best friend’s torture.

“And, besides that, he’s fucking Tony Stark,” Steve continued as he paced Bucky’s living room.

“By that you mean he’s the dude who you spank the salami to on the reg or the asshat who did shots with Prince Harry at that party? Because I’m just wondering what vibe we’re going for here.”

“You are enjoying this way too much,” Steve huffed.

“No,” Bucky said, “I’m enjoying this the exact right amount.”

“Buck -”

“Stevie,” Bucky’s tone told Steve there was no use arguing, so he sat down. “You’ve been talking for months about reaching back out to Ransom, to see if you guys could get together, so I know you’re all fucked up over that because your brother is… well, he’s where he is. And I think you’re freaking out a little much over Ransom’s fiance -”

“I am not -”

“Steven,” Bucky sighed. “Can we skip this part of the song and dance routine?”

The pair were quiet for a few minutes while Steve gathered his thoughts. Bucky, Steve noticed, pulled out his phone and started a round of Best Fiends, so Steve knew he could take all the time he wanted.

After Steve had managed to get confirmation that Ransom was still unconscious and that no one had been able to raise the rest of the family, Carol headed back to the house to fill Nat in and prepare for Steve to be out of pocket for a bit of time. Tony had… Steve wasn’t actually sure where Tony was.

Tony.

Steve let out a deep sigh and Bucky glanced quickly at him while continuing to tap on his phone to match the gourds or fruit or whatever was the point of the game. “You want coffee?”

Steve checked his watch, saw that it had only been ten of the twenty minutes they’d been asked to wait to hear from the doctor in charge of his brother’s care. “Yeah, thanks.” Bucky heaved himself off the couch, tapped Steve on the shoulder - one of their long-established gestures of love - and headed out of the room.

Steve’s brain was running on two tracks simultaneously - one was that he had no idea what was going to happen to Ransom and the other was that he had no idea what to do about being in close proximity to someone who’d always been more of an abstraction than a reality. Steve had known he was gay since he and Bucky were 15 and Bucky started talking about having sex with his then-girlfriend. That was back when Ransom, Bucky, and Steve all still hung around together and the conversation had started because Ransom had added condoms to the shopping list.

_“Stevie,” Bucky said, “I think Rosie’s it.”_

_“I think you shouldn’t be an idiot,” Steve replied, “or in a rush.”_

_“You think sleeping with my super hot girlfriend who I love is being an idiot,” Bucky rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. You can’t tell me that if you had a girl, you wouldn’t wanna.”_

_Something in Steve twerked and he looked Bucky dead in the eyes. “No. I would not. Because a, I’m terrified of getting someone pregnant and b, because I’m not into girls that way.”_

_Bucky blinked a few times. “Well, the condoms are to make sure you don’t get her pregnant. I don’t want a baby.”_

_Steve rolled his eyes. “You honestly think they’re fool-proof? My brother will be using them on someone and he is a fool, so I guess I hope they are.”_

_Bucky punched a few more buttons on the video game controller. “I love her, and I just wanna be with her,” he said in a quiet voice._

_“Buck,” Steve replied in kind, “she’s great and I know you love her. But, come on, man. Just be careful, all I’m saying.”_

_“We’ve talked,” Bucky said, “about how we’d be each other’s firsts and how we’d be careful and safe. I’m not just… I’m not Ransom, which is a dumb as fuck nickname. Can we keep calling him Hugh, please?”_

_“He won’t answer to it,” Steve sighed, “and Mom thinks it’s precious that he’s going by his middle name, so we’re all fucked.”_

_Bucky snorted but said nothing else._

_“We’re not going to address the other thing I said?”_

_“That you’re not into girls?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_Bucky shrugged. “You wanna tell me more?”_

_Steve couldn’t believe Bucky was being so casual about it. All the internet blog things had said this part would be hard - saying it out loud to important people. They warned him to prepare for questions and mocking and… it was 2003 not 1903, but it wasn’t like gay teenagers were the norm. He had been prepared for a lecture, for questions, for…_

_He had not been prepared for acceptance._

_“Not really? Not right now,” Steve said out loud, his voice cracking slightly with emotion._

_“Whenever man,” Bucky said, but his voice cracked a bit, too. “I don’t care, I just want you to be happy.”_

_“I want you to be happy too, man,” Steve said._

_“Telling your family is going to be -”_

_“I’m aware.”_

_“They don’t need to know yet,” Bucky said quietly._

_“It’ll just be another way I’m a massive disappointment,” Steve laughed. “Might as well keep adding to their list.”_

_“Well, Stevie, you’ve never done anything halfway.”_

He kept his sexuality to himself (and Bucky) until about two weeks after high school graduation, when everything that had been boiling between him and his larger extended family came to a head. The end result was that everyone emphatically knew Steve was queer, and that he wasn’t interested in his inheritance if it came with the strings it did, and that he’d be heading to Brooklyn Arcadia and not Northeastern, like he was expected to.

Bucky had lived in Brooklyn until he was 8 - that’s when the Barnes’ moved to Massachusetts and Bucky’s ma became the Drysdale’s housekeeper - and still had a bunch of family there, so the boys easily found a network and Steve settled into independent living as well as one could when they were suddenly forced to budget for the first time in their life.

Sometime around Steve’s 25th birthday - he remembered this distinctly - there was a lot of hubub on Gay Twitter that Tony Stark was finally legal. He’d heard rumblings of the kid before - heir to the Stark fortune, some sort of genius, maybe, but also an ass - but had never paid much attention. He wasn’t into jailbait and spent enough of his time working with children that he knew a cry for help when he saw one. So, no, Tony Stark turning 18 wasn’t a deal to Steve Rogers.

Now, Tony Stark turning 21…

Those were the pictures that 28-year-old Steve could not get out of his brain. Steve wasn’t an idiot - he knew he liked twinky guys and Tony was basically the poster model for the brand - and it wasn’t like he was ever going to meet Tony, so it seemed like a harmless enough fantasy. Besides, seemed like the kid was a mess and Steve wasn’t into messes. He'd grown up with entitled messes who were so busy scratching their indulgent itches that they never saw the destruction around them.

And now his fantasy was engaged to his brother. Which meant that this fantasy he’d built up in his head was about to come crashing down. Tony was _real_ , not just a stand-in in Steve’s imagination.

A noise outside the door alerted Steve that Bucky entered, followed by a tall man in surgical scrubs.

“Hello, Mr. Drysdale?”

God, it had been so long since he answered to that name… “Steve, please,” Steve rose and offered his hand to the doctor, who gestured that they should all sit.

“I’m Dr. Strange, and I’m the one of the neurosurgeons on staff here. They called me when your brother was in the ambulance, knowing I’d want to take a look at the case myself,” the man’s voice was calm and Steve was grateful.

“Why?” Bucky asked for them both.

“Because Mr. Drysdale did not regain consciousness at the scene and the media has already been alerted to the accident,” Dr. Strange explained. “We have protocols in place for such events.”

Steve took a deep breath in through his nose and counted to five before releasing it. “Thank you, Doctor. What can you tell me?”

“Your brother is currently in a medically induced coma to relieve the swelling on his brain,” Dr. Strange started and Steve tried hard to follow everything but something short circuited in his brain at the word ‘coma’. His brother was in a coma.

_God, I should call Tony._

_Do I have Tony’s number?_

_Ransom would want Tony here, wouldn’t he?_

“Stevie?” Bucky’s voice cut into Steve’s panic.

“Sorry, I zoned out for a minute,” Steve said. “What was that?”

“I said,” Dr. Strange repeated, “that we anticipate moving him from ICU within the week. I am anxious to get his blood pressure slightly more stabilized, but I need to prepare you and your family that this may be a long recovery process.”

Steve nodded. “I’m… I haven’t talked to my family in a while, so I can’t tell you when they’ll arrive, but I can only apologize in advance.”

The doctor let out a snort. “Steve, I do not care who they think they are or what they think their money can buy. Your brother’s body is my only concern and right now, it requires my expertise and not their hubris.”

With that, the doctor left, telling Steve and Bucky to go home because there would be no further news until later in the day. Bucky looked at Steve expectantly.

“I’m going to wait here for Tony,” Steve explained. “He said he was coming right back and I forgot to get his number. I don’t want… I think…”

“Cool,” Bucky just shrugged. “Coffee’s shit and is probably cold, but here you go.”

Steve was usually grateful for his best friend’s ability to just roll with things, but his relief in this moment nearly took his breath.

“So, back to what we were saying before,” Bucky said.

_On second thought…_

“You’re going to have to sort it,” Bucky continued. “Go carve something or whatever later today, take the cycle out on a long drive, I don’t care. Because the reality is that all the pieces of your life you’ve held at a distance just crashed into each other and in the middle of it is… well, Tony.”

“No shit,” Steve said on a laugh. “No fucking shit.”

The pair sat in silence for a few moments before Steve spoke again. “I can handle my family. I doubt Grandpa will come, but Linda and Dick will and I know what to do with them. Besides, for all we know, they all know and love Tony. I mean, Linda has to be salivating at the idea of a business merger between Thrombey Publishing and Stark Industries.”

“Very maternal, your mother,” Bucky snorted.

“She’s the best,” Steve sighed. “Can you take care of House stuff?”

Bucky nodded and told him quickly about the plan Nat, Carol, and he had formulated while Steve was with the doctors that meant Steve could be at the hospital however much he needed. They didn’t have any particularly high risk residents at the moment that Steve had direct supervision over, so the timing on that front was good. Carol could handle most of the paperwork, and it wasn’t like Steve was going to live at the hospital.

“I’m just going to say this,” Bucky said quietly after he finished strategizing. “You are a good man, pal. You always have been, which is why their bullshit chaffed you so much, and them banging back into your life is gonna be rough, but you’re not alone.”

“I know, bud,” Steve’s lip curled into a sad smile. “And thanks.”

Bucky nodded and pulled his phone back out of his pocket. “Now, if we’re waiting for the… what did Buzzfeed call him?”

“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” came the voice from the doorway. “But honestly, Tony is fine.”

Steve looked up and locked eyes with the slight man in jeans and a t-shirt that read ‘Science: It’s Like Magic, But Real’. He was shuffling his feet a little, had hair that was still drying into curls, and Steve was struck with how _human_ he looked. This wasn’t the man that Page Six caught stumbling out of Orange Rain at 2am, or the one that was nearly arrested at the Met Gala two years ago for showing up stoned. Steve couldn’t even fathom how this man was the same one engaged to his showboat twin.

Maybe there was more to Tony than met the eye, and Steve wasn’t sure if that was the best or worst revelation he’d had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next Friday for Tony's reaction!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony tells Pepper what he did

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and commented that the schedule is a happy thing for them, kudosed, and expressed joy and excitement at this story. In These Times, I'm especially grateful to know my words are helping, so thank you.
> 
> My fearless betas, kocuria and hogwartstoalexandria, have been and will continue to be, essential in getting this story out of my brain and onto Ao3. Thanks, dearlings.

* * *

* * *

“Of course now she’s fucking asleep,” Tony muttered to himself as he rang Pepper’s phone for the third time since leaving the hospital. It had been agreed he’d head home for a shower and a change of clothes while Steve waited for the doctor. Tony tried not to think too hard if they’d judge him for leaving his fiancée with the brother he didn’t even know existed and holy fuck was about fifteen times hotter than Ransom and god Stark keep it in your pants the man is unconscious and…

And now Pepper wasn’t picking up the phone.

The Uber pulled up in front of Tony’s building and he hopped out, phone still glued to his hand. Said hi to the doorman - ‘ _I’m fine, Sal, my friend got in an accident and I’m going back to the hospital, can you make sure to sign for any packages?’_ \- and punched his floor in the elevator.

Pepper still hadn’t called back by the time he was out of the shower, so he started to throw some clothes on - sniffing them first because he could not remember the last time he’d actually done laundry and had accidentally fired his cleaning person the month before when they’d inadvertently dismantled one of his robots because they thought it was a pile of debris.

Finally, the phone rang.

“Pep! Finally.” He flopped down on his bed and ignored the fact that his wet hair was making his pillow damp.

“Tony! I am so sorry!” Her voice was frantic. “I was in the bath and I thought I put my phone on low battery mode but I accidentally put it on ‘do not disturb’ and are you okay?”

Tony snorted. Pepper was an organizational genius who ran a massive staffing company with one hand tied behind her back, but pregnancy brain was a real thing and the last several months had been interesting for them all. “I’m fine, but Ransom is in ICU.”

She gasped and he was reminded what humanity sounded like. He spent so much of his time either completely alone or with people like Ransom who treated humans as disposable commodities that Pepper’s empathy always sounded a little foreign to him. Tonight reminded him that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. “Tell me everything.”

So Tony did. He told her about the accident and fighting his way into the ambulance - “Tony. Please tell me you are going to make sure that poor person doesn’t get fired because you got all entitled ass on them.” - and then about the nurse.

“And then, I couldn’t figure out another way to get her to tell me what was wrong with him, so I told her that we were engaged.”

There was a silence on the other end of the line that history had informed Tony was not good.

“Pep? Did I lose you?”

“No, but you lost your damn mind,” Pepper replied. “You told a medical professional that you were engaged to the man who, not two weeks ago, informed you that building robots was childish and you needed to, and I quote, step up your game if you want to keep tapping this, end quote?”

“Pepper,” Tony whined. “Not the time.”

She was silent for a few beats. “Fine, but there will be a time and it will be soon. What happened next?”

“Well, then his twin walked up.”

“TWIN?!”

“Yeah, the one Ransom conveniently forgot to mention,” Tony sighed and continued the rest of the story. “And to top it all off,” Tony concluded, “about four minutes with Steve and I can already tell I picked the wrong brother.”

There was that silence again, the one that made Tony’s stomach dance with nerves. It meant Pepper was composing her thoughts. She could ream him off the top of her head - if she was composing, this was going nowhere good.

“Let me get this straight,” Pepper finally said. “The man I have been telling you to break it off with since the morning after you first fucked him -”

Tony winced. Pepper rarely used the word ‘fuck’ - said it was crass - but she always used it when she talked about Ransom. Message received, Pep.

“- is currently unconscious for who knows how long. Instead of leaving well enough alone and sending him a fruit basket, you decided to implant yourself even deeper in his life, and lied about being engaged. Let me remind you that he doesn’t remember your middle name, but I digress.”

“Laying it on thick, Pep,” Tony muttered.

Pepper ignored him. “Then, you find out that he has a twin brother who logic would say he’s estranged from based on evidence presented yet still showed up to the ER at 2am, which says to me he’s a good person, which may be why he’s estranged from Ding Dong Drysdale. And now, on top of all of this, you have clocked that the twin is hotter and thought that was relevant information to this conversation.”

“When you put it like that -”

“Anthony,” Pepper ground out.

“I know,” Tony sighed.

“You cannot -”

“I know.”

“So you’ll come clean?”

Tony ran his free hand over his face and stared at his ceiling. “As soon as I get back to the hospital.”

“You just deserve more than scraps of affection from an oaf,” Pepper said gently. “And I wish you could see that.”

She said things like that often, that he ‘deserved more’ or that he was ‘worthy of love’ and he had no idea what they meant.

“I’m gonna head back to the hospital,” is all he said, ignoring her affection as they both knew he would.

“Keep me posted,” Pepper said and they signed off.

He hated waking up a driver at this time of night, so he ordered an Uber and made his way back to the hospital. The various algorithms he had set up to scour the internet for coverage of him had already turned up a trove of content from the evening. Pictures of them on the dance floor, tweets about seeing them in the VIP room, even a poorly lit Tik Tok all preceded the notifications of the accident. A lot of the internet assumed Ransom was dead, but it was reported that Tony got in the ambulance. Thank God that the nurse he blabbed to either didn’t need a pay day or was too busy to cash in yet, because news of the engagement had not hit the wires.

He forwarded everything he had in a file over to his PA, Darcy, and his head of security, Sharon, and leaned back in the seat with his eyes closed. _What a morning they’ll wake up to. Sorry, ladies._

Tony was the sole heir to a fortune built in the late 1800s and tied up in the invention and development of motors. His great-great-grandfather had figured out how to make a steam engine small enough to run farm equipment and then his great-grandfather had been an early investor in Edison’s electricity mechanisms and combined the two. Things had been progressing at a steady clip, but if you looked in the official company history from when his grandfather was born in 1890, if nothing else had changed, they might have been bought out and faded into obscurity.

And then Kaiser Wilhem declared war and Ebenezer Stark invented an epoxy that stabilized hand grenades and Stark Industries transitioned from benign technology company to weapons manufacturing and by the time Tony was born, they were synonymous with the worldwide military industrial complex.

Which, ever since he was four years old and built his first motherboard, Tony had been desperately brainstorming ways to change. Homeschooled from five, he started college level courses in biochemistry when he was ten.

_“No,” Howard said without even looking up from his newspaper._

_Eleven-year-old Tony bit his lip and counted to five like his therapist told him to. “But Dad, I know this means the anthraquinone will be more stable -”_

_“Anthony, we make weapons, not elements.”_

But I think I found a new one, _Tony thought to himself._ And I think it could mean that we could prevent biowarfare which is coming even though you won’t believe me. _Outloud, he said, “elements are weapons, Dad. Grandpa taught us that.”_

_The only sound Tony got out of Howard was the strangled noise that meant a verbal explosion was about to happen, so he quickly shoved the rest of his breakfast into his mouth and took off for his lab._

He adored the freedom from his parents’ scrutiny that came with college, which he attended at fourteen, but he soon realized that he had no idea, really, how to make friends. The children of privilege that he grew up with weren’t friends per se, they were peers in proximity. Pepper was the exception, but how do you replicate Pepper? You can’t. He quickly found out that the best way to make friends in college was to be the one in the room who would do anything on a dare.

His life basically turned Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with hours spent in the laboratory achieving staggering works of genius, and weekends spent at any house party that would have him, ingesting whatever was put in front of him so that he would maybe get a scrap of attention.

His first sex tape was released on YouTube on his 18th birthday, and Tony supposed he should be grateful it wasn’t before then. He was slightly ashamed he didn’t remember the other people in the video, but soon brushed that thought aside and stumbled from workshop to party to bed to workshop through two bachelor degrees, a masters, and two PhDs.

And jaysus fuck, if he wasn’t exahusted.

And lonely.

And so jealous of groups of friends that seemed to love each other.

But he knew he’d never have that. He’d tried, back in college, and all the general public wanted from him were ways to cheat on tests and entertainment at a party. Those two things were easy to provide and he did so with aplomb, gracing the cover of magazines and populating many Tumblr blogs dedicated to his pansexual exploits.

“But you can have more,” Inner!Pepper murmured and Tony sighed deeply. “Not helping, Pep,” he muttered out loud as the cab pulled up to the entrance of the hospital and Tony got out.

Because the scary truth? The thing his soul whispered the moment the word ‘fiancé’ was out of his mouth? The truth was that he wanted that more than anything else in the world - to be part of something, to be loved, to be more than a perfunctory element in someone’s social portfolio.

And from the way Man Bun and Biker Jacket stood with Steve, Tony could tell the twin had that. He had people and fuck, if that wasn’t more powerful than any drug Tony could ever consume.

He walked through the hallways of the hospital and wound his way up to the waiting room, where he heard Man Bun’s voice. “If we’re waiting for the… what did Buzzfeed call him?”

Oh, that’s definitely my cue, Tony felt his mouth twitch into a smirk and entered the room. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. But honestly, Tony is fine.”

“That’s it,” Man Bun nodded and took a sip from the coffee cup in his hand. The face he made was comical.

“Hospital coffee?” Tony enquired.

“Only the very best,” Man Bun affirmed. _James,_ Tony mentally corrected himself. _He said his name was James._

“The doctor was in a little bit ago,” Steve cleared his throat and said softly. “I was waiting to give you an update and then they said we should all go home and get some sleep.”

“Is he gonna-”

“He’s got swelling on his brain and they’ve put him in a coma to give him time to recover. They don’t know how long it’ll be, but they’re going to run some more tests over the next few days,” Steve explained and Tony felt himself collapse into the nearest available seat.

He’d not been prepared for a coma.

He’d been ready to tell Ransom about the stupid joke and have the man berate him for being clingy and then they wouldn’t talk for a while until Ransom got drunk and desperate and Tony would fling himself from his workshop and into Ransom’s bed and when Tony put it all like that in his head it sounded exactly as pathetic as Pepper told him it was.

 _This is absolutely the time for emotional revelations, thanks brain,_ Tony scolded himself. _A+ effort here._

“So, Ransom’ll be here for a while, and I wasn’t sure if you called my parents,” Steve was still talking and Tony forced himself to focus.

“No, I’ve never met them,” Tony replied before he could stop himself. “I don’t even recall their names.”

Something passed over Steve’s face and James’s eyebrows went up into his hairline. “Well, that answers one question,” he directed at Hot Twin. _Steve_ , Tony mentally corrected.

“We weren’t sure how much of a secret you were,” Steve clarified. “I haven’t spoken to anyone in my family in several years, and we weren’t sure if you were already a family staple.”

Several years, Tony mentally repeated. No wonder Ransom didn’t mention him. “No, we’ve been seeing each other on and off for a year, but we didn’t do any of the meet the parents shit.”

“We’re just surprised the Drysdales didn’t release press statements,” James said evenly. “Linda likes publicity and her boy landing the Stark heir would be quite a bit of it.”

Well, that’s a lot in a sentence. “Ransom didn’t want anything to be about our families,” Tony lied easily. Well, not a total lie. “We’re both so used to being under a microscope-”

Tony was cut off when James snorted. “Sorry, but Hugh ain’t under any microscope except the ones he put himself under.”

“Bucky,” Steve said with a hint of warning in his tone.

“Sorry, Stevie, I…” James trailed off and ran his hand down his face. “You wanna head?”

“Yeah,” Steve reached for his phone. “The doctors told us that we should head home because there’s nothing for us here until Ransom’s treatment team meets around noon. I have no idea if Linda and Dick will be down soon. But we could exchange numbers and stay in touch?”

Parents? I think? Tony searched his mental rolodex quickly as he rattled off his cell and Steve did the same. The other two men exchanged a glance that clearly meant ‘ _okay, let’s go_ ’ because they both got up.

“Go get some sleep,” Steve said kindly. “You look like you need it and Ransom’s not going anywhere. I’m sorry I didn’t catch you before you left your house.”

“It’s fine,” Tony waved him off. He was about to say that he’d just head to the workshop because he had a prototype he was tinkering with and then remembered the act he had to maintain. “It’s not like I usually get home before now anyway.”

Steve pursed his lips and nodded. “Well, sure. See you soon.”

Tony gave the pair a decent head start before he headed out of the hospital room as well, but not before making sure he was on the contact list in case Ransom’s condition changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Join us next time for a Steve chapter, where we'll spend more time with Nat, Carol, and Bucky in all their glory


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky, Nat, and Carol know things and Steve feels things.

* * *

* * *

The first thing Bucky did when he and Steve got back from the hospital was head straight for the shower because many hours of sitting in a stuffy waiting room had left him a little ripe. The first thing he did _after_ the shower was knock on Nat and Carol’s door.

When Nat said he could come in - she claimed she always knew who was outside their door based on the cadence of their footsteps - he looked at the redhead and said, “how long have you known he was in New York?”

“Two years,” she replied evenly.

“And you were planning on sharing that information when?”

“When it mattered.”

Bucky snorted and plopped himself in the armchair they kept in the corner of their room. “Do you see the flaw in your plan now?”

Nat shook her head. “It wouldn’t have done him any good to know before this. And, if he’d been curious and googled his brother at any point in the last few years, he woulda seen all the tabloid hits. Hell, even Ransom’s Insta is full of New York clubs.”

“I don’t like it when you make decisions for us, Natasha,” Bucky growled.

“Interestingly,” Nat’s tone shifted to one of musing, “there isn’t a single picture of Tony anywhere on Ransom’s feeds. I checked them all.”

“Kid claims it’s because they wanted to be out of the spotlight,” Bucky sighed.

Carol snorted as she scrolled through her phone. “I get that I’ve never met Steve’s family, but does this man look like someone who wants to stay out of the spotlight?”

She tossed her phone to Bucky, who caught it easily and began to scroll through Ransom’s unlocked Instagram. Photo after photo of him wrapped around blondes with duck face pouts, and dudes who looked like extras on Jersey Shore, and groups of people doing shots. “No, can’t say that he does,” Bucky admitted.

“Tony’s feed isn’t a whole lot different,” Nat reported, “but we found a secret one we think belongs to him.”

“You have known about this man for less than a day,” Bucky marveled. “Do I even want to know?”

Nat shrugged. “Peter taught me some basic hacking skills and I’ve been practicing. Instagram is not hard to crack, James.”

Bucky shook his head. “You scare me.”

“You love it,” Nat corrected. “So, I honestly didn’t have to work too hard to find this - the IP addresses were linked and he must host both accounts on the same phone, so my guess is that he doesn’t really care if tech people find this but cares if idiots at his company do, but look at this.”

Nat hoisted herself out of bed and traded Bucky her phone for Carol’s. She then climbed back into bed with her wife and the pair chatted quietly while Bucky scrolled.

What he saw was photo after photo of motherboards and robots, of a water filter that ran entirely on cell phone batteries, of a group of bots wearing birthday hats for someone named ‘Pep’, and more absolutely nerdery. There were screenshots of notes that included words Bucky knew he’d have to look up, and also some really strong feelings about comic books that Bucky personally identified with.

“They did ruin Watchmen, buddy, you are not wrong,” Bucky muttered.

“What was that?”

“I’m scrolling,” Bucky responded, several thoughts coalescing in his mind at once.

First, there was no way in God’s green earth or Satan’s deepest hell that Ransom Drysdale was with this man. This guy was everything Ransom hated - passionate about things other than himself, geeky, awkward, earnest, and caring. So something fishy was happening there.

Second, Bucky wasn’t a social worker like his pals were, but you didn’t work with trauma survivors the way they all did without picking up a few things. If Tony was intentionally keeping two parts of himself separate to this extent, there was baggage there that needed a whole trailer to carry.

Third, if Steve ever found out that this Tony Stark existed, Bucky would have to physically restrain him from proposing.

“Your thoughts?” Carol interrupted his reverie.

“I think that if this guy is actually into Ransom Drysdale, I will clean the kids’ bathroom for a month,” Bucky replied.

Nat grinned like the proverbial Cheshire Cat. “Exactly.”

“Oh fuck,” Bucky said, “that’s you’re ‘I have a plan and none of you are going to like it’ face.”

“I have no such face,” Nat protested.

“You do,” Carol and Bucky said in unison and Nat swatted at her wife and scowled at her friend.

“I actually have no such plan,” Nat admitted. “What I do have is a lot of questions and the knowledge that our Steven loves to adopt strays. This guy screams to me that he’s every kid we’ve ever had walk through this door, just older and therefore his pain is more calcified.”

“Look at you, using the language,” Carol crooned and Nat rolled her eyes.

“I’m not just a pretty face and a mean right hook,” Nat replied, kissing Carol’s forehead with a tenderness that made Bucky nearly clutch his chest. _Been too long since I talked to Sam_ , he reflected, thinking of his on-again-off-again something-that-resembled-boyfriend.

“You’re not saying Stevie could have a thing for one of the-“

“God no,” Nat interrupted Bucky. “What I _am_ saying is that Steve is somehow wired to love people who need loved and are afraid of it. Mix that with a guy who we all know he’s into, physically, and I’m just registering concern.”

“Noted, Niffler Nat,” he grinned, invoking the nickname she’d gotten from a resident a few years back, in honor of how she always found information, even when the person didn’t want to provide it.

“So what’s the plan, then,” Carol asked, ever the pragmatist.

“I’m on breakfast today,” Bucky replied, “so I’ll go get the fixings for pancakes and the turkey bacon he likes. I think he should tell the kids what’s going on, but I assign dragging him out of the workshop to one of you two.”

“I’ll do it,” Carol nodded. “I want to try to get him to talk about seeing Linda and Dick again.”

Bucky snorted. “Good fucking luck, he claims he’ll be fine with them.”

Carol rolled her eyes. “Our personal martyr is alive and well, I see.”

“Hey,” Nat said, with a softness in her voice Bucky wasn’t prepared for. “He’s gonna need us all. We’re all going to figure this out together.”

“I wasn’t panicking,” Bucky defended himself.

“Tell that to someone who hasn’t lived with you, Barnesy,” Nat smiled lovingly. “I could see you fidgeting from here.”

Bucky got up from the chair and crossed to the bed. Sitting on the edge, he looked at both women and spoke. “He has no idea what he’s doing and I’m scared for him. So yeah, but between the three of us, we’ve been his family for a fucking long time and we’ll figure it out. Can you guys get the kids out of the house today?”

“We were thinking Bronx Zoo,” Carol said. “MJ’s in a real animal justice phase, so she can lecture me about captivity and environmentalism and that’ll take her mind off that Steve’s not okay.”

“Yeah, she’s not going to handle that well,” Nat said.

“She’s still struggling with things she can’t control or fix immediately,” Carol replied, “and that’s normal. Peter and Shuri are really helpful in helping her breathe, but you don’t un-do fifteen years of trauma in six months.”

“Zoo it is,” Bucky smiled and got up to leave the room. “See you at breakfast.”

* * *

Steve came home from the hospital around 4am and immediately headed to the basement. He went through his preparation rituals - putting on the leather apron he used when he was doing delicate carving, the one with the pockets and the specific smell of Murphy’s Oil and sawdust. Then on went the safety goggles, the ones he special ordered because he had a big head and he mentally swatted away the double entendre that always slipped into his subconscious in Bucky’s voice, _which one are you talking about, pal?_

He’d started woodworking when he was young, maybe six or seven. No power tools then, just the old fashioned ones, and he’d quickly fallen in love with the feeling of the wood grain beneath his fingers. Steve learned the art from a neighbor, a man named Mr. Singh who lived down the street. The Singhs were an older couple, and their house was quiet - full of books, and the smells of curries cooking, and overstuffed pillows - which was a complete contrast to the chaos at home. Linda Thrombey Drysdale - his _beloved_ mother - was a socialite and businesswoman in equal measure. Her father’s exceptionally successful mystery writing was the source of the money, but the notions about being rich were all her own. Their house was constantly full of “important people” and while Steve’s twin thrived on the attention, Steve hated it.

And so the Singhs had become a second home for him. It wasn’t like Linda knew where he was or cared, most likely, and Mrs. Singh was just one of those women in the neighborhood who always had children about. Her kids were grown and she was the local librarian, and once Bucky moved into the caregiver’s cottage at the back of the property he started coming to the Singh’s as well.

They’d moved away when Steve was 10, but not before he’d fallen completely in love with working with wood. Pine, cherry, cedar - he had his favorites, but the process itself was the true love. The meditation of carving and sanding and creating calmed him in ways nothing else did. During his clinical internship in his Masters of Social Work program, he’d been at a residential juvenile rehabilitation facility. He’d gotten to teach some of the clients there and so when he and Carol set up Koinonia, he had demanded a space to continue doing that.

And thus, the basement had become his sanctuary.

That morning, however, no amount of sanding or drilling or buffing could calm the storm in his brain. _What does it mean that I think Tony is more than what Ransom sees in him? Why do I even care? Am I ready to see the parents? Or Grandpa? Jesus, I don’t think I can face any of them, but I have to. And what does it say about me that my brother’s health is at the bottom of my curiosities?_

“I’d say it means you’re human,” Carol responded and Steve nearly dropped his chisel.

“I did not hear you come in,” Steve replied.

“I could tell by the way I’ve been calling your name for three minutes,” she said gently and offered the cup in her hands, which he accepted gratefully. “Actual coffee, fixed the way you like it, with the nut juice.”

“Almond milk is not nut juice.”

“That is literally all it is, unless you are going to tell me that almonds have started having milk glands,” Carol sassed. This argument was well worn, and sounded like love to Steve’s aching soul.

“He’s my brother, Flypaper,” Steve said.

“I hate that name, Cappuccino.”

“Mutual.”

“He’s your _blood_ , Steven,” Carol corrected, “and you are always telling the kids around here that blood isn’t the determining factor in family.”

“I know, but…”

“You know, but Linda’s voice is louder than mine.”

“She…” Steve scratched a hand through her hair. “She made her choice.”

“You know how I feel about this,” Carol said gently. “I think your mother is a selfish cow at best and a manipulative bitch at worst, but I don’t think she actively tries to hurt you. I think she knew how to be a mother to Ransom and that you demanded more from her, you demanded humanity, and she couldn’t figure out how to give that and that’s on her.”

“Her favorite son is dying.” Steve was slightly ashamed of himself that he felt almost nothing as he said the word.

“That’s not what Bucky said the doctors said,” Carol arched her eyebrow. “He said they expect him to pull through, but it’s going to take time.”

Steve shook his head. “The paperwork they gave me is a little more pragmatic than that. It says they’ll know more as they do more tests, but that right now he’s really critical.”

“Okay,” Carol acquiesced. “But that still means that right now, he’s not actively dying. He’s in stasis and most likely healing in some way. And, honestly, we can always hope he’s one of those people who get a traumatic brain injury and change personalities!”

Steve laughed. “I’m not sure I would know what to do with a Ransom who wasn’t an entitled dickwad.”

“Well,” Carol said, her voice sincere, “I hope we find out.”

“Thanks, C,” Steve smiled and held out his fist for a bump. She complied and then cocked her head at him.

“Come on up for breakfast, will ya? The kids know something’s up and I want them to hear it from you.”

He nodded and replied he’d be up soon.

* * *

“So that’s all I know,” Steve looked at the faces of each of the residents in turn.

“Are you… are you okay?” Wanda whispered. “I didn’t even know you had a brother besides Bucky.”

“Well,” Steve smiled, ignoring the feeling in his chest from having to use the same word for both men, “Ransom is my twin, and Bucky’s my chosen family, so they’re a little different. But when I tell some of you that I know what it’s like to not fit with your birth family, I mean it. Walking away from them was my choice -”

Steve ignored the strangled noise Bucky made from the stove, where he was minding the pancakes.

“- and I didn’t know that my brother had moved here, but now I know and I want to be there for him how I can. I’ll be at the hospital a lot, but you guys all have my number, and the other three aren’t going anywhere. So some stuff may be weird, but we’re going to try to keep stuff as normal for you all as possible.”

“You didn’t answer Wanda’s question,” MJ observed. “Are you okay?”

Steve took a deep breath and met her eyes. “No. I’m not. But I am trying to figure out what ‘okay’ would look like right now.”

She nodded. “What can we do?”

“Nothing,” Steve assured her. “You just-”

“Bullshit,” MJ cut him off. “I get you’re staff and an adult and whatnot, but you all call this a family house and in my definition of family - which my therapist helped me create,” she narrowed her eyes at him, “involves showing up when people aren’t okay. So, I repeat myself. What can we do?”

He held her gaze for a few seconds and let the tears that were gathering in his eyes spill over. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

She nodded. “Bucky, when he knows, you’ll tell us?”

Bucky placed a stack of fresh pancakes in the middle of the table. “Yup, but what I know we all need now is for youse to eat. Carol and Nat are going to take ya to the zoo.”

There was some excitement because the zoo was a beloved activity of this particular group - even though MJ would catch Steve in a lecture about the nature of animals in captivity and he’d just smile and listen - and they all asked if some of the various friends could come as well. Carol wandered in just then and took the focus off Steve.

“They’re going to be annoying on Monday when we ship ‘em to school,” Bucky commented about an hour later when the house was cleared out and the pair were settled on sofas in the family room.

“Well, that’s about 36hrs from now and I’m having trouble thinking past 36 minutes from now, so we’ll cross that bridge later,” Steve sighed and let himself sink into the sofa a little. Bucky didn’t say anything, but Steve soon heard the sounds of _Chopped_ coming from the TV, so he let himself drift into a nap.

Which he was woken from about thirty minutes later when his phone buzzed loudly on the coffee table. Steve saw a message from the only sane participant in the Thrombey/Drysdale family circus, his grandfather’s caregiver Marta.

_WhatsApp: Thrombey Gossip_

_Marta: Steven, they’re all coming._

Steve looked up at Bucky with panic in his eyes. “They’re all coming.”

Bucky spit out the drink he was sipping. “Like all fourteen hundred of them?”

“There are not fourteen hundred people in my family,” Steve muttered.

_Steve: What do you mean all, Marta?_

_Marta: your parents and Joni and Meg_

_Marta: and us. Me and harlan. But we’re coming separate._

_Marta: i’m sorry_

_Steve: It’s not your fault, Marta, thanks for letting me know._

“Marta says it’s Linda, Dick, Meg, Joni, and Harlan. And her, Marta that is,” Steve said to Bucky.

“Well, I guess you need the full complement for all the performative wailing that’ll happen,” Bucky snorted.

Steve: How quick?

_Marta: The four of them left in a car about two hours ago, I think, from your parents. Harlan and I are leaving now._

“The first wave arrives in about two hours,” Steve reported, “and I want to be there when they all descend like the horsemen of the apocalypse.”

“You want me with ya?”

“Do you mind?”

Bucky snorted, a noise Steve was deeply familiar with. It was James Barnes for “you’re being an idiot, but I love you so I won’t bring it up.”

Steve quirked one side of his mouth into a smile. “I’ll text Tony. If he’s never met them, the man deserves a warning.”

“Thinking of Tony, eh?”

“Do not start, Buck.”

“Just saying that I’m deeply looking forward to awkwardly spending time with the man you’re in love with who is boning your brother,” Bucky remarked glibly.

“I’m not in love with him,” Steve corrected. “And technically, Ransom’s currently unconscious, so unless Tony has a kink the tabloids haven’t leaked, it’s past tense on the boning.”

“I didn’t even think Ransom was into dudes,” Bucky responded.

Steve shrugged as he got up off the couch. “Unless he’s changed a lot, Ransom is into anyone who is into him. I wouldn’t call him ‘pansexual’ as much as a narcassist. You ready?”

Bucky nodded. “We’re stopping for snacks, though. I ain’t dealing with this nightmare without Doritos.”

“Valid condition.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time to meet the Drysdale/Thrombeys. It's gonna be a _time_. See you Friday!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, thank you, _thank you_ for the incredible support you're giving this story. Markey gave me pretty much carte blanche with her MTH win, but when I suggested this plot, I thought I went a bridge too far. Instead, she started cheering it immediately and I'm so grateful so many of you have as well. 
> 
> Thanks to Marie for the beta/cheer-read/hand holding.

* * *

* * *

“You have an incoming message from Steve Rogers,” Jarvis reported to Tony. “Would you like me to read it, sir?”

“That’d be great, J,” Tony replied, bending himself around an engine part that wasn’t cooperating.

“Tony,” Jarvis recited, “my parents, Linda and Richard, are on their way to the hospital with my Aunt Joni and her daughter Meg. They are all highly dramatic and probably two hours away. I’m on my way to the hospital now.”

“He’s on his way to the hospital to meet the family he hasn’t seen in years,” Tony mused out loud. “Why?”

“His communication provides no insight, sir,” Jarvis replied. “How would you like me to respond?”

“Tell him that I’ll meet him there,” Tony said.

“Is that all, Sir?” Jarvis prompted when Tony fell silent for a few beats.

“What else should I say?”

“I couldn’t begin to suggest, Sir.”

Tony rolled his eyes. One of the problems with having a self-evolving AI that you built to be as human as possible is just that - the AI is as human as possible. Which means that as Tony has been muttering about Steve Rogers over the past few hours, Jarvis has been listening and has evidently combined that with already set opinions on Ransom Drysdale - opinions Jarvis has never been shy to voice.

“But you’re implying, J,” Tony replied.

“Sir, would you like me to send the message as is or add to it?”

Tony straightened his body, put down the wrench he’d been wielding, and rubbed his hand over his face. _Do I want to keep being public Tony with this guy?_

“Ask if he wants me to pick up any food,” Tony said slowly. “I don’t want them having to haul supplies on the subway and I think we’ll be there a while.”

“Very good, Sir,” Jarvis said, with a hint of smugness Tony never programmed.

Tony was back in his penthouse and about to get in the shower when Jarvis let him know that Steve had replied. He didn’t always use Jarvis as his voice-to-text feature, but after the eighteenth failed experiment of how to keep motor oil from corroding the insides of a StarkPhone, he’d begun to use him during workshop hours.

“Sir, Mr. Rogers has responded with ‘Bucky already got Doritos, but thank you. My family will take care of themselves.’”

“Interesting,” Tony muttered to himself, and then addressed Jarvis as full volume. “Thanks, J. Can you let Darce know I’ll be at the hospital and won’t be making any statements about Ransom. Have her send a press round-up to my inbox if there’s anything I need to pay attention to, otherwise I’m on silent mode and only her, you, Pep, and Sugarbear ring through.”

“Expiry date?”

“Add Steve and Ransom’s medical team, and maybe James - get his number, will ya? - and then make it none,” Tony decided. “It sounds like the Thrombey Drysdales are going to need the Stark patented razzle dazzle and between that and getting this prototype to development, I can’t handle the board or anyone else. Tell Darce she’s in full attack dog mode.”

“She’ll be delighted,” Jarvis replied. Darcy Lewis was the absolute best personal assistant that Tony could have dreamed up, largely because he couldn’t talk Pepper into leaving her job and joining SI.

_“I think working with you would lead to your premature homicide, Anthony,” Pepper mused when he brought it up to her, as she flipped through the newest batch of applications on her tablet. “You go through PAs like water because you’re impossible and I quite like being your best friend who can continually judge your choices and yet not have my financial wellbeing tied to your behavior.”_

_“The stocks don’t affect my PA’s salary and you know it,” Tony protested._

_“And yet,” Pepper cocked an eyebrow at him, making what he called her ‘Pep Face’ which was deployed whenever she felt he was being an obtuse idiot, “I still say no.”_

_She tapped her screen a few times and then pierced Tony with a glance. “That one. Hire her and thank me later.”_

And he had thanked her many, many times over. Darcy was scarily efficient, sarcastic as fuck, and terrified most of the members of the international business press. If Tony believed in reincarnation, he’d swear she had spent a former life as a warrior queen of some tribal culture because that was how she ruled his personal kingdom. Combine her with Sharon Carter, who headed his security detail handily after years of being Michelle Obama’s personal Secret Service officer, and Tony was basically surrounded by women who could gleefully kill him with their thumbs and somehow loved him anyway.

After getting out of the shower and dressing for battle - Tom Ford skinny jeans, Camoshita shirt, and a jacket Kate Spade had personally made for him before her death - he looked every inch the billionaire who felt the world was beneath him. He finished the look with a custom Tag Heuer watch he knew Richard Drysdale would clock immediately, sneakers that the cousin would know cost a lot, and sunglasses because the sun never sets on a badass and Tony never went anywhere without the ability to cover up his eyes as needed.

He’d never been able to completely control his eyes and they could give away hurt faster than he could mask it. The sunglasses had become a staple at the age of thirteen, when he’d found out that his father had been paying the girl he thought he was dating. He’d loved Rumiko, as much as a thirteen year old could, and his eyes had clearly given away his pain by the way Howard laughed at him.

So, sunglasses became part of the armor.

“J,” Tony called, as he gave himself a final once-over in the mirror, “can you see if Happy’s free?”

“Of course, Sir.”

* * *

Bucky pinched the bridge of his nose. At this point, he wasn’t sure what would be worse - listening to Tony and Steve bicker about regulations on capitalism for the next hour or if the Drysdales would show up faster.

“Can we please, for the love of whatever deity you want,” Bucky said loudly, “change the fucking subject?”

Both men froze and Bucky realized they both had forgotten he was here. _Oh, that is interesting._ You didn’t grow up the poor kid among the 1% without picking up keen observational skills and Bucky was pretty proud of his. Those men had no idea he was there and they’d been going verbally at it for about forty-five minutes.

“Sorry, James,” Tony said, a hint of sheepishness in his voice. “I don’t get a chance to argue economic policy with someone who isn’t on my board all that often. I got carried away.”

“Wait,” Bucky furrowed his brow in confusion, “you’ve been having fun?”

Tony grinned and Bucky realized it was a completely different smile than the one he usually saw in all the photos of the kid. “What? You don’t think going over the principles of supply side economics is a good time?”

Steve started to laugh and Tony’s giggle soon joined it and something clicked over in Bucky’s brain that he wasn’t quite ready to define yet.

“Nah, Buck isn’t much into economics,” Steve smiled. “Now, you wanna talk about ozone layers and space travel and other planety type shit, and Buck’s your guy.”

“Okay, we’ve been sitting here for ninety-six minutes and I gotta ask,” Tony said. “Buck?”

Bucky smiled. “When I met Stevie and Ransom, we were all eight, and skinny little fuckers.”

“My grandpa,” Steve picked up, “told us all that we weren’t even a buck soaking wet.”

“About three months after my ma and I moved into the Drysdales’ place - she was the housekeeper -”

“She ran our lives,” Steve interrupted.

“Winnie’s a gem,” Bucky smiled and saw something pass over Tony’s face before the younger man rearranged it again. “But she got paid a housekeeper’s salary, so we’ll use the title. Anyway, I hit my growth spurt first.”

“So the next time Grandpa saw us, he told Bucky that he was worth at least a buck now,” Steve grinned.

“Plus, middle name’s Buchanan because my dad was a big history nerd, so it all kinda stuck.”

“Makes sense,” Tony smiled. “My best friend’s name is Virginia Anne, but I call her Pepper. She’s got red hair, and so when we first met I started calling her ‘strawberry’ and she cooly informed me that she was allergic to strawberries and if I kept using that name, she’d find herself allergic to me. So I started going through every other red thing I could think of - I really hoped cayenne would stick, but she said it sounded too much like she was appropriating an indigenous name - and finally landed on Pepper.”

“That’s hilarious,” Steve smiled.

 _Oh fuck,_ Bucky realized, _this is the kinda thing that’s gonna make Steve fall past the point of no return._

“So how long have you guys known each other?” Steve continued, while Bucky frantically thought of a way to get his best friend out of the room and give him a talking-to.

“I started college at 14,” Tony said, “and MIT wouldn’t let me in the dorms because liability, blah blah blah, so I lived with one of the deans of the business school. Pepper’s his oldest daughter. Once I turned 16, they let me live in a dorm, and I roomed with a freshman named James Rhodes, and they’re married now. Kid on the way. Happily ever after and all that shit.”

Tony’s words may have been flippant, but his tone certainly wasn’t. This was the Tony of the secret Instagram and Bucky had to change the subject.

Thankfully, exactly at that moment, a commotion sounded outside the room.

The Drysdale/Thrombeys had arrived.

* * *

_Showtime_ , Steve thought to himself.

Linda entered first. With a cool efficiency, she took off her sunglasses and peered into the room. “Hello, Steven, James. Why is Tony Stark here?”

 _Ahh, the warmth of a mother’s love._ “Hello, Linda.”

Before he could address her question, the other three members of the first invasion spilled in. His father had gotten grayer, but otherwise looked the same. Joni, his mother’s youngest sister, still looked and dressed like the sycophantic space cadet she was, but her daughter, Meg, was a lot taller than Steve remembered.

 _That’s what happens when you stop seeing children,_ he reminded himself, they grow.

“Steve!” Joni was fine with the banishment because it had gotten her more of the inheritance, but she’d never treated Steve with disdain. She just never treated him with any affection that didn’t have an end goal, either, but of all the games his family played, Joni’s were always the most transparent.

“Aunt Joni,” he replied and allowed her to hug him. He caught Meg’s eye over Joni’s shoulder. “Hey, kid.”

“I’m sixteen,” Meg rolled her eyes. She and Ransom had always gotten on best.

“Steven,” Dick nodded efficiently once Joni had released Steve. “Can you give us any updates on Hugh’s condition?”

Facts were comforting, so Steve rattled them off with practiced ease, pausing for the reactions of each family member.

“I still haven’t gotten my question answered,” Linda replied. “This is a private family matter, which only explains the Barnes boy’s presence if the two of you are together and does not explain Tony Stark’s at all.”

* * *

Tony watched carefully as each family member registered Steve’s presence, ferreting away the information for later needs. He’d already decided he hated every single one of them for multiple reasons, but the chief of which was that they were everything he hated about the world he lived in. Perfectly coiffed - even in their casual wear - and playing their roles perfectly, but their only true motivation was power.

It took everything in him not to roll his eyes, but he hadn’t been playing the role of Tony Stark, Heir to A Fortune With So Many Zeroes It Scared Even Forbes for so many years for nothing.

_Bless me Pep, for I’m about to sin again._

“I’m Hugh’s fiancé,” Tony said, cooly, “and he would absolutely want Steve here because he was planning on calling Steve this week to introduce us.”

* * *

Steve’s jaw metaphorically hit his stomach at Tony’s pronouncement. He would have sputtered out a “are you fucking joking?” if Bucky hadn’t gripped his wrist to ground him and muttered, “be cool, Stevie. I think he’s on our side.”

_Yeah, but why?_

* * *

Tony had been expecting chaos at the announcement, and he got his wish. All four of them started sputtering and talking at once, so Tony held up his hand and waited for silence.

 _If I’m going to do this_ , he thought to himself, shifting his posture so that it went from lazily leaning against the wall to commanding a room, _I’m going to do this and when it all eventually collapses in my face, at least the baby will be born by then and I can go lick my wounds as I play godfather._

“Hugh and I have been seeing each other since New Year’s. For the past five months, we have been keeping it a calculated secret because of this exact reaction.” Tony’s voice was clear, and he made sure there was no indication that he was making this up as he went along. “We have both spent our lives saturated in a world where every movement we made was scrutinized - for Hugh, by the lot of you at first and then by tabloids later, and I think you can appreciate that I was basically raised as fodder for public consumption. My parents had little interest in parenting, and neither, it appears, did you.”

“Young man,” Dick interrupted and Tony glared.

“Did I say that I was entertaining questions?” Tony held the man’s eyes. _If he thinks I’m blinking first, he is more of an idiot that I thought he was._ Years and years of being thrust into situations he didn’t want to be in but had to survive had honed his ability to read people instantly into a fine art form.

“Since the middle of April, Hugh and I had been strategizing on how to publicly announce our formalized relationship. The tabloids have been circling for months around us here, as I’m sure your press office is aware even if your parenting skills aren’t, and we knew the time was ripe to make a move. We’ve been engaged for approximately twelve hours, and 10 of those Hugh has spent in a coma, so I’ll forgive you for your insensitivity on this occasion.”

* * *

Bucky struggled to keep his jaw off his chest. Who is this kid?

It was like watching a wizard take over an entire room and rewrite the social order at the same time. He was playing Dick and Linda like they were fiddles and - save for Meg, who had been a useless child and Bucky was sure had turned into a pawn of an adolescent - he was the youngest person in the room.

As Tony continued commanding the conversation and answering some of Linda’s probing questions with answers that Bucky would bet his very prized vinyl copy of Dark Side of the Moon were lies Tony was making up on the spot, Bucky let himself focus on Steve.

Who was quietly slipping into a panic attack.

* * *

“Hey buddy, let’s take a walk, Tony’s got them.”

Steve let himself be led outside the room, through a maze of hallways, and onto a patio that was full of lush greens and benches. Must not be the only family member who needs some air sometimes.

“You breathin’?”

Steve nodded. “That was a lot.”

Bucky cackled. “We left ‘a lot’ sometime around 2am, pal, we’re now firmly standing in a different reality.”

Steve started laughing and didn’t stop until there were tears running down his face and he wasn’t sure if he was laughing or crying. The way Bucky pulled him into his chest meant his best friend wasn’t either.

“You’re doing a great job, Stevie, you really are,” Bucky whispered and they sat in silence for a while as Steve regulated his breathing.

Steve felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

_WhatsApp: Tony Stark_

_Tony: Take your time wherever you went_

Steve wordlessly handed the phone to Bucky, who smiled. “I think he’s a good egg.”

“Good eggs don’t fuck my brother,” Steve replied.

“They do if they hate themselves,” Bucky retorted and Steve fell silent.

“Come on, you big oaf,” Bucky continued, “use that social work genius and connect some dots. He’s obviously lonely, and if Ransom hasn’t changed - which I doubt he has - he likes people to worship him, not love him. Looks to me like Tony is probably pretty good at adoration.”

Steve twisted his lips. The same thought had occurred to him earlier that day, when he and Tony had been arguing discussing the latest round of recommendations from the G8 on regulating climate change and the other man had been….

Fun.

Talking to Tony had been fun, and Tony seemed to be having fun. His brain ran a mile a minute and Steve struggled to keep up a few times as he followed Tony down verbal rabbit trails, but when Bucky interrupted them and Tony had said he was sorry that he got carried away, but he was having a good time…

“To me,” Steve said slowly, “there are two main possibilities here. One, Tony’s got untreated borderline personality disorder and all of this is gaslighting somehow.”

“Of course you went to the diagnostic worse case scenario,” Bucky rolled his eyes.

“And the second is that my brother is still the ass we always knew him to be and he was using Tony to get his rocks off and Tony suggested getting married while Ransom was, I don’t know, high or something, and Ransom saw it as an opportunity to get more fame, so he jumped on it.”

Steve wasn’t actually sure which one he hated more.

No, he was sure - it was the second option.

In the first scenario, he was the one getting played, and in the second…

In the second, a man was getting his dignity stripped from him for the social gains of a selfish asshat.

“My vote is door number two,” Bucky replied, “and I think yours is, too.”

“So what do we do?”

“Well,” Bucky said slowly, “I think if we got a house full of kids who want to learn technology and he went to college at 14, so my money’s on the fact that he might have some things to teach ‘em. And at the same time, we got a house full of kids who may not be so different from him and I love that and am also simultaneously petrified of what is going to happen when we introduce him and MJ.”

Steve’s phone buzzed again.

_Tony: Sorry, but an old white dude and someone your mother is pretending to love just showed up? Grandpa and Marta, I’m assuming?_

“Gramps is here,” Steve said to Bucky and got up from the chair. “Time for round two.”

* * *

About an hour later, Tony waited for each member of the Circus of Dramatic Entitlement to shuffle out of the waiting room, keeping a keen eye on the young woman with Grandpa and the looks she exchanged with Steve. They were in cahoots of some sort - maybe she was a mole for him, keeping him up to date on the family who so clearly had no idea how to interact with him. Tony couldn’t tell yet if Steve was okay with this arrangement - but he’d figure it out. Steven Grant Rogers Drysdale was a puzzle and Tony was good at those.

“Why don’t you guys go get some air again,” Tony suggested to Bucky gently, taking in Steve’s shaking hands and look of complete exhaustion, as though he’d gone twelve rounds with Tyson.

Well, he basically had.

Bucky nodded and led his best friend out of the room, with a comment to Tony that they’d be back in a minute.

Tony wandered out of the waiting room and into Ransom’s. One of the benefits of the lie was that they let him at Ransom’s bedside, so he pulled up a chair and grasped the hand that had last been directly on his dick. Then it had been confident, and sure, and heavy in good ways. Now it was heavy with dead weight, and clammy, and pale.

What a difference 12 hours makes.

“Well, Hugh,” Tony breathed, “yes this feels big enough for your legal name, I regret to inform you that we are engaged.”

Tony started laughing and got up to pace around the room. “I know, I know, you can’t remember what any of my bots are named, and I have no idea if you went to college, but now we’re engaged! It’s amazing what big ideas I’ll come up with when people are pissing me off and woah, buddy have I been pissed.

“I’m fucking furious with you for getting in that car when you knew I was on the phone with Pep because I don’t buy for a second that you don’t know who she is, you just chose to ignore it because you’re an ego-maniacal child. And then I’m mad at myself for being scared I’d never see you again because why do I even care because you treat me like garbage. And then, well, someone told me I couldn’t know something, so of course I had to know it, so that’s how the engagement thing happened because a nurse told me I couldn’t know how you were since we weren’t family.

“And then, God, Hugh, your family is something the fuck else and that’s coming from me, so I got pissed at how they were talking to Steve and Bucky, and now I’m not sure how I’m going to fix this, but the good news for me is that the docs think you’ll be sleeping for at least a week, so I’ve got some time to come up with a plan.”

Tony started laughing again, a brittle noise even to his own ears. “God, I’m an ass.”

He sat for a few moments in silence, accompanied by the beeping of Ransom’s heart monitor, and the rhythm of his breathing machine. He thought back to earlier in the day, when he’d been arguing with Steve and having the most fun he’d had with a human in a while, to the casual intimacy between Steve and Bucky that made his heart actually hurt, to the way Linda’s complete indifference to her child gave him Howard flashbacks so hard he nearly thought the man was still alive and in the room. If they could have shown up with a tall Italian woman who refused to speak English because it was ‘pedestrian’ and whose attachment to her child was through the perfunctory yearly visits he made to her Tuscan estate, Tony would have thought he and Ransom truly were carbon copies.

“So, I guess, I just need to say that I’m sorry,” Tony breathed out and shuffled closer to Ransom. “I’m sorry I lied to your entire family, and I’m really sorry I lied to your brother, who, not for nothing, seems pretty okay, so I’ll want to hear why you dropped like him a hot potato at some point, and now I’m rambling and Steve will be back in, like, two seconds, but, yeah. I’m sorry.”

* * *

Bucky swallowed a shout because he could not believe what he was hearing.

He stepped back from the doorframe as quietly as he could, making sure to intercept Steve, who was coming back from the bathroom.

“Give him another minute,” Bucky said, “I think I heard crying.”

Steve nodded and looked at Bucky with wide eyes that held a sheen of tears. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Right now? I think we all need to talk to some food about our feelings, and not deal with inquisitive teenagers, so I nominate pizza, beer, and somewhere showing a game we can pretend to watch. Wanna invite Tony?”

_Because I think everything just changed and you have no idea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next Friday for when Tony meets the kids... and Steve confesses some things to Ransom


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony continues to realize that his life with Ransom was pretty shitty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I promised some Steve POV in this chapter, but MJ showed up instead, so Steve'll see ya in Chapter Seven.
> 
> Thanks to Marie for the beta and to all of you for your *incredible* comments on this thing. I read all of them over and over as I'm stuck on a section and remind myself that I'm not the only one who loves these yahoos.

* * *

* * *

_WhatsApp: Pepperony_

_Tony: We’re watching baseball._

_Pepper: You’re sitting at a bar, watching baseball with your unconscious fuck buddy’s twin brother and his boyfriend?_

_Tony: It appears so_

_Tony: And they think Ransom and I are engaged_

_Pepper: NO TONY_

_Pepper: WE TALKED ABOUT THIS_

_Pepper: You have to be honest. You have to be._

Instead of acknowledging her any further, Tony tuned back into the conversation around him.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Steve dramatically rolled his eyes and gestured to the TV. “Hernandez was safe at second.”

“Nope,” Bucky shook his head, “Reynold’s arm is too fast. If the ump says out, then he’s out.”

“Hernandez can run a 5.4 mile,” Steve retorted.

“You’re just pissed because you forgot to trade him off your fantasy team last week,” Bucky grinned and finished off his beer. “Another?”

Steve fiddled his nearly empty pint glass and nodded. He looked over to their table companion. “Tony? It’s my round.”

“Um, sure, if you guys are,” Tony said, with hesitation in his voice.

Bucky watched Steve get up and grinned. “Steve’s fantasy team is basically tanking itself and we’re only in the second month of the season. This only gets more entertaining from here.”

Tony caught Steve flipping Bucky off as he walked to the bar and found himself laughing. It was strange, sitting with these men, almost surreal, but nice. He wasn’t really a sports guy - he appreciated the physics and baseball statistics were easy to follow and so he read them to have something to talk about if necessary - and one of the reasons was that it had always seemed like a communal thing, something you watched in groups. And Tony’s community was Pepper and Rhodey and they were always somewhere else. The three hadn’t lived in the same zip code since Rhodey got stationed at Edwards Air Force base right after his MIT graduation, and so this feeling of just sitting somewhere for hours and chatting with people where no one was taking selfies, or tipping off the paparazzi, or talking about cleanses… was beautifully foreign.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Tony addressed Bucky, “what’s this house and the kids you guys talk about? Are you foster dads?”

Bucky blinked a few times and then chuckled. “Stevie and I aren’t together, Tony, but yeah, we’re two of the live-in staff at a transitional housing facility in Windsor Terrace.”

They’re not together, Tony’s brain record scratched on that, but forced his mouth to keep talking. “A transitional.... Sorry, I don’t know what that means.”

“Something tells me I should mark the occasion you don’t know something,” Bucky winked and Tony felt a blush threaten his cheeks. “In this case, I guess, why would you, though?"

“I’ve -”

“Rhetorical, Stark,” Bucky assured him. “You’re not the first super rich kid I’ve been around and there are parts of life youse just never get exposed to and it’s not your fault. So let me give you a real quick rundown of our foster care system.”

Tony had literally never - not for one second of his life - wondered about the foster care system and now he was desperate to learn everything.

“Too long, didn’t read? It’s totally fucked,” Bucky laughed. “It’s supposed to be the ultimate safety net for kids whose biological families can’t provide for them, but it’s completely overloaded and so many kids slip through the cracks. People who have no business caring for plants, much less humans, get paid to largely neglect and sometimes outright abuse children who have already been traumatized. And then, to top off the particularly terrible sundae with a rotten cherry - they’re ‘phased out’ of the program as soon as they turn 18 with a limited support structure.”

Tony was silent - his brain whirring with how he could fix everything Bucky was saying, combined with abject horror at the fact that something like that was happening and he had no idea - but when Bucky paused to take a breath, Tony jumped right in. “But there are kids who are okay?”

Bucky grinned, but there was a sadness there that made Tony ache slightly. “There are, sure, but there are a lot who aren’t, and that’s what makes me mad. There are fabulous foster parents - some of our residents have come from really great homes - but they’re still under resourced and frequently exhausted and now I’m sounding exactly like one of Carol’s fundraising pitches.”

Before Tony could ask any further questions, Steve returned with the drinks and Bucky mentioned what they’d been talking about. Steve’s entire face lit up as he started talking about the House and Tony felt more pieces of his resolve to not love this man crumbling.

“We have six residents right now,” Steve said at one point. “Michelle, who has everyone call her MJ, has been with us for about four months, and this is actually her first foster placement, but her parents were not rock stars before this. Her boyfriend, Peter, is who advocated for her to get placement with us, actually - he’s probably a genius the way he works with tech stuff and I think he’s building a robot?”

Steve looked at Bucky for confirmation, who nodded.

“Anyway, then we have Pietro and Wanda, who are twins who have been in the system their whole lives and I’d imagine they’ll stay through college. Pietro is currently into the idea of woodworking, but I think he lacks the patience for execution and Wanda is basically magic with how she plays the violin, so we’re all kinda hoping she tries for a conservatory,” Steve continued. “And then there’s Val, who we don’t get to see that much anymore because she’s down at Temple.”

“Speaking of,” Bucky interrupted, “she Whatsapped me yesterday and I forgot to tell you. She thinks she got that internship out in Colorado.”

Steve fist pumped. “Excellent.”

“What’s she going to intern at?” Tony asked, getting caught up in the recitation of the family they were describing.

“She really wants to do equine therapy,” Bucky explained. “She can’t even tell you why - girl grew up in the Bronx and the only horses she encountered were plastic - but she came to us about two years ago and she’s been single-minded about it the whole time we’ve known her.”

“She’s doing pre-veterinary medicine at Temple down in Philly, and there’s this ranch in Colorado that’s been her dream to intern at, but it was really competitive and we all kept telling her she was incredible and she’d get in and, ah!” Steve grinned and pounded the table. “I’m so excited for her! I bet you the kids will want to go down and surprise her and take her to that place in Fishtown she likes.”

As the pair chatted a bit about this prospect, something welled up in Tony and he couldn’t keep it in anymore. “Can I meet them?” Tony blurted and Steve paused his drink halfway to his mouth.

“The kids?”

Tony felt his face blush, but nodded anyway. “Yeah?”

“Why?” Bucky peered at Tony and he could tell this answer was capital ‘I’ important.

_Because in about six minutes, you two have expressed more love and care for those kids than my parents ever managed, so I kinda want to see what makes them so magical._ In the absence of being able to say that out loud, Tony replied, “I’m not sure, but they sound like fun.”

Both men shared a glance and Tony had no idea what they were thinking. Finally, Bucky spoke, shifting to address Steve directly. “I think MJ is going to eat him alive while Peter tries to act cool.”

“I think I’ll pay money to watch that,” Steve smirked. “Your company does techy stuff, right?”

_Does techy stuff,_ Tony internally scoffed. _We introduced streaming video to the marketplace and consulted on the creation of smartphones but you have no idea because I did all that off book._ “Some, yeah,” Tony said. “I know my way around a motherboard.”

“Wanda and Pietro both go to this after-school coding club, and Peter’s been helping them,” Steve explained, “but he just started doing some project that will take a lot of time, so if you’d be willing to give them like twenty minutes of your time, we’d appreciate it.”

“You have no idea if I know what I’m doing,” Tony said.

Bucky snorted. “If you reference a motherboard in casual conversation, you’re ahead of us, and part of working in our field means you take help wherever you can find it.”

“Let me text Carol,” Steve said, “and give her a heads-up we’re bringing Tony.”

Bucky checked his watch. “They should be done with dinner, but the zoo may have thrown off schedules, do you want to check if we need to bring anything home?”

“The zoo?”

“Yeah,” Bucky answered. “The three we have living with us right now are particularly attuned to the emotions of other people. You might call them empaths, but really, they’re just survivors who had to learn to read a room quickly, and this whole thing with Ransom and Steve is hard for them.”

“They want to help,” Steve interjected. “It’s part of their recovery and therapy, to learn to do something productive with that information instead of internalize it.”

“Stevie had a client a few years back who nearly chewed her own fingernails off from stress, for instance, when she knew someone in the house was angry and she felt she couldn’t do anything,” Bucky added.

_Her own fingernails…_ Tony marveled on that for a minute before Inner!Pepper commented that some people chew their fingernails off and some people refuse to leave their workshop for three days.

“So Carol and Nat took them all to the Bronx Zoo today,” Steve said, still looking at his phone. “She said to stop at a bodega and get some ice cream because MJ won a bet? I don’t know, but mint chocolate chip has been demanded.”

“Who was the blonde at the hospital? Was that Nat?”

“No,” Steve smiled fondly. “That was Carol. Nat’s her wife. Carol technically owns the house and the practice - we met in college. Nat owns a tattoo parlor a few blocks away and also provides support.”

“So you’re like two sets of house parents?”

Bucky grinned. “Ish, I guess. Carol and Steve are definitely in charge, though, and me and Nat support them.”

Tony only had fourteen million trillion more questions, but the two men indicated they should get going. _Why are they in charge? Where did you go to college, Steve? Why do you all do this job? How did these kids get picked and what’s being done for the ones who aren’t? Who does the therapy? Why didn’t anyone adopt these kids? Why did I always assume everyone in foster care gets adopted?_

His mind kept whirring as they all piled into an Uber and headed towards Koinonia House. It was easy to get lost in the easy banter between the two of them and the questions they asked him about general stuff - what kind of ice cream did he like? _Butter Pecan Haagen Daaz._ When did he first learn to build tech stuff? _Four, I think. That’s the family legend._ What would he usually be doing on a Saturday night?

That one brought him up a little short, because he could feel truth threatening to spill from his mouth. _Normally, I’d be in my workshop unless Ransom texted that I could join him somewhere or if I wanted to piss off the shareholders._

Instead, he shrugged nonchalantly. “Probably at a club.”

He knew his voice sounded different, and there was something on Bucky’s face that said he caught it, but Steve was too busy having a conversation with their driver about the Mets chances for the season to pay attention.

Thank fuck for small favors.

* * *

Bucky had been worried that just showing up with a random guy at the house would be awkward for the kids, but as soon as they walked in, Tony clocked MJ’s shirt.

“Fellow murderino,” Tony nodded at MJ, who preened slightly in a way Bucky had never seen before.

“Oh God,” Peter groaned. “There’s going to be two of them.”

“Shush, Parker,” MJ scolded. “Just because you’re too queasy to listen to true crime doesn’t mean other people don’t like it.”

“What’s a murderino?” Steve asked from his position behind Tony in the kitchen.

“A fan of the podcast _My Favorite Murder_ ,” Tony explained, turning slightly and catching Steve’s eye. “It’s two best friends who tell each other stories about true crime.”

“But it’s so much more,” MJ insisted, her veneer of cool indifference dropping and Bucky was both shocked and thrilled to see the girl being excited about something without worrying about coming across as ‘cool’.

‘Cool’ was her armor and they were dismantling it piece by piece, but it was taking time.

A thought clicked in Bucky’s brain and he made sure his face stayed frozen.

_She and Stark, they’re the same people,_ Bucky marveled. _Orphaned, parents indifferent before then, inner nerds but afraid to let it show. I thought he might fit in around here, but this is… they are the same people._ He was about to say something to Steve before he remembered that Steve didn’t know Tony was an inner nerd and letting that piece of information slip would cause more issues than solve problems.

“Well, Tony, you have to stick around now,” Carol said from her place at the stove where she was popping popcorn. “None of us want to go to the live shows with her.”

“Peter said he’d go,” MJ replied, and Bucky cringed slightly to hear the more neutral tone.

“Yeah, but sounds like Tony here actually wants to go,” Bucky corrected quickly, “and something tells me he’d spring for those fancy VIP meet-and-greet tickets you talk about.”

Tony’s eyes lit up quickly before his own mask slid back into place. _Yup, carbon copies,_ Bucky affirmed for himself.

“I can’t get my boyfriend to go with me either,” Tony said, “and my best friends live in California, so I’m in.”

“Boyfriend?” Carol addressed Tony.

Bucky wasn’t sure he saw Tony blanche because he knew about the lie or because Tony actually did.

He also wasn’t fully sure how much longer he could keep this to himself.

“Fiancé,” Tony laughed, but Bucky could have sworn there was a catch there that wasn’t about being sad. “It’s still so new.”

“Of course,” Carol said, her voice heavy with sympathy. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”

Tony waved it off and Bucky got the impression that the man was always stuck between two people - like he was his own multiverse trapped in one body. Tony the Nerd wanted to just ignore it and go back to geeking out over a podcast. Tony the Socialite wanted to embarrass her for offending him.

Not surprisingly to Bucky, Tony the Nerd won out.

“What’s your favorite murder?” Tony addressed MJ.

“First things first - where is my ice cream?” MJ addressed Steve, who pointed to the freezer.

“I put it away while you were talking about death,” he replied and hip checked Carol out of the way from popcorn preparation. Bucky rolled his eyes. Steve was particular about popcorn and swore none of them made it ‘correctly’ and Jesus, if it wasn’t just pouring oil and waiting for kernels to pop?

“We were talking about murder,” Tony corrected with a grin and took a seat at the table across from Peter. The conversation quickly moved past the point where Bucky was absorbing details and let himself get caught up in the rhythmic chaos that was an average Saturday night in the house.

And hoped to every available god that Steve didn’t notice the way Tony fit right in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next week for a chat with Rhodey and the promised check-in with Stevie to see how he's feeling about All of This.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rhodey has feelings about Tony's plan

* * *

“Are they always like that?” Tony asked as he and Bucky sat on the front steps, waiting for Tony’s driver to show up.

“Like a gang of chaotic kittens, desperate for attention and yet afraid to show it? Yes,” Bucky laughed.

“I just thought…” Tony trailed off, afraid to say what he was thinking.

“I know we just met and all, Stark, but I’m a good secret keeper,” Bucky said, lowering his voice. “I don’t have the same degrees Steve and Carol do, but I have some training, and they say I’m a pretty good listener.”

“You aren’t a social worker?”

Bucky shook his head. “I’m a court appointed special advocate for children, but that’s a voluntary thing. I earn a living by selling life insurance.”

Tony blinked a few times and then started howling. “You’re an insurance salesman?”

Bucky grinned. “I’m missing a pocket protector?”

“And maybe glasses,” Tony agreed, laughter still tinting his voice. “You seem far too sexy to be an insurance salesman.”

Bucky shrugged. “It’s a good living, and I get to do my own hours around when the kids need me. Plus, people always think it’s something only rich folks have and so I like being able to show young parents and such that planning for your future doesn’t mean sacrificing your now.”

Tony was quiet for a minute. “No response to the sexy?”

“You flirtin’ with me or killing time,” Bucky replied evenly.

Tony turned to make eye contact and confessed. “Killing time.”

“Then no, we’re not touching that because you’re engaged to my best friend’s asshole brother.”

 _You could be honest now_ , Inner!Pepper whispered. _This could be the end._

“Sorry, man,” Tony said, instead, trying his best to sound like Ransom. “I just have a hard time not commenting on what I see.”

“No, I don’t think that’s it,” Bucky said, cryptically, and Tony’s car pulled up before he could ask Bucky what that meant.

“Hey,” Bucky called as Tony climbed in, “you’re welcome back anytime. I know we’re a haul out from your penthouse, but the kids liked you.”

Tony nodded and climbed into the back seat of the Town Car.

“Which home, sir?”

“Navy Yard,” Tony said, flexing his hands. He needed to be in the workshop that no one knew about but him, the one where Jarvis lived and DUM-E spun around the floor and the only cameras around were the security ones he built into the walls. Also didn’t hurt that it was less than 30 mins from the House. All in all, Tony had four houses in and around New York - a penthouse in Stark Tower where he never went unless his mother expected him to, a brownstone in Park Slope that he was currently renting to an ambassador’s child, a house on Martha’s Vineyard that he really should sell since he didn’t like sand, and the secret one that was registered under Anthony Jarvis of J&A Limited.

As far as the owners of the building at the Navy Yard were concerned, J&A Limited was an innovative tech startup that employed between 2 and 10 people, paid their rent on time, and the biggest problem was that things exploded sometimes. For Tony, it was his ticket to his future, if he ever got up the courage to tell the Stark Industries Board of Directors to go fuck themselves because he was stopping weapons production.

“Honey, I’m home,” he called to Jarvis as he stumbled off the elevator.

“Good evening, Sir,” the pleasant voice responded. “Shall I prepare a calming cup of tea so that you have a good night’s rest?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “No, you should open the file for the wheelchair engine and start the coffee pot.”

“Sir, may I comment upon the time?”

“Of day? No,” Tony replied, as he hit several screens to wake them up. “I’m well aware that it’s 9pm.”

“It’s 11:30, Sir.”

Tony paused for only a second. “Perfect time to work on the performance issue in the secondary battery.”

If Jarvis could sigh, Tony knew that’s exactly what his AI would be doing. He was as bad as Pepper and Rhodey.

Speaking of…

“J, can you see if Rhodey’s around?”

“Presently, sir.”

_I swear I did not program him with sarcasm._

“Tones?”

“On a scale of one to my mother, how much is Pep not talking to me right now?”

“You have my seven months pregnant wife scrubbing our bathroom with hypoallergenic cleaning products, Anthony,” Rhodey responded.

Tony blanched while opening up a blank file on the hologram in front of him. “So, have I lost godfather privileges?”

“You’ve had a lot of terrible ideas,” Rhodey responded, “but I think this one may take the cake.”

“Honeybear, I have this under control,” Tony protested.

Rhodey howled with laughter - the sound sharp in the cavernous loft and Tony winced slightly. _He is mad_. “Tony, the literal last thing you have is this under control. This is so far past control that you turned left at ‘out of hand’ about twelve hours ago. Speaking of, how are you still awake? You were already coming out of a two-day workshop binge before this all happened.”

_Being with people who don’t disdain you is surprisingly energizing._

“I’m magical,” Tony replied. “But hey, I called because I actually have a question.”

Rhodey sighed. “Shoot.”

“How easy is it for you to get me access to Patterson?”

“Why the hell do you want to go to Ohio?”

“I met this kid today, and he is thinking about aeronautical engineering and I know that you guys have cool shit out at the research lab and -”

“Is this a Make a Wish thing?”

“No,” Tony chuckled. “I didn’t meet him at the hospital. I met him at the foster care house that Steve and Bucky-”

“Bucky? Who the hell is Bucky?”

“The guy I thought was Steve’s boyfriend but isn’t. Keep up, Honeybear,” Tony replied. “Anyway, we went to the house after pizza at the bar and I met this kid, Peter, who wants to do aeronautical and I checked into his school and it seems pretty good, but he’s like whoa level genius, Rhodey, and I want to get him in touch with stuff.”

That was met with silence and Tony got concerned the call had been dropped.

“Rhodey? You there?”

“Yeah, man,” Rhodey said, a little slowly. “Just confused. You want me to get a kid you just met into a secure research facility at an air force base three states away from where you and said kid live?”

Tony started panicking. “Is that weird? Should I not-”

“No,” Rhodey cut him off, “not weird, just a little different, but good different. Yeah, I’ll see what I can do.”

* * *

About ten minutes later, James Rhodes hit ‘end’ on his phone and stared at the wall for a few minutes. He’d known Tony for nearly ten years and always thought he was a better person than he gave himself credit for. Howard Stark had done Tony zero favors in the self-concept department and Maria Stark was a stone cold narcissist, and Tony had basically been raised by paparazzi cameras and expectations of the Stark Industries Board of Directors.

But the kid that lived with him in that decrepit dorm in Cambridge was just so different that Rhodey almost had whiplash for the first semester. One minute, Tony would be aloof and drunk and a complete douche, and then Rhodey would come in at two in the morning from a frat party to find that Tony had built a robot out of spare parts he dove into the engineering building’s dumpster for and had taught it how to speak in morse code. Rhodey had figured out quickly that the authentic Tony was the dweeb, and the other one was the one the Starks had created - which Pepper had rolled her eyes at when he told her and said that if it had taken him longer than one day to figure that out, he wasn’t paying attention.

“Hey Pep?” He called as he got up from the sofa where he’d taken Tony’s call and wandered into their bedroom to find his wife.

“Yeah?”

“I think this all might actually work out okay.”

Pepper was quiet for a moment. “You think that Tony lying about being engaged is going to turn out alright?”

“Oh, no, that’s a hot mess already and will only end in disaster,” Rhodey affirmed. He climbed into bed next to Pepper and settled himself at her side. He relayed his and Tony’s conversation. “I think what’s going to be okay is him knowing these people.”

“But if he keeps lying to them-”

“I think that however long he has them, it might show him that we don’t have to be anomalies in his life,” Rhodey interrupted. “And I think that might give him the bravery to shut down the weapons division like he’s been dreaming about since we met him. If he keeps thinking that we’re the only people who could ever think he’s smart or love him or anything else he spews when he’s shit faced, then he’ll never do it.”

Pepper was quiet for a minute. “I’m going to hope you’re right, that this Steve Drysdale is as good for him as he seems, but I would also appreciate it if you suddenly had to take a business trip to New York.”

Rhodey snorted. “I’m not leaving you until Bean is here.”

“James,” Pepper sighed. “I am fine.”

“Never said you weren’t,” Rhodey replied. “Just that I’m not leaving you and Bean until she arrives.”

She glared at him for a second before consenting. “I’m still worried.”

“Of course you are,” Rhodey said. “You love him and he’s basically an idiot when it comes to people, so of course you’re worried.”

She sighed. “But you think it’ll be okay?”

“I think it will be wonderful and terrible all at the exact same time.”

* * *

Steve was not particularly interested in examining how much he enjoyed spending time with Tony the day before, or how much the kids seemed to like his company. After a full day at the zoo and a fairly emotional morning finding out about Steve’s family drama, Steve would have assumed they’d all be wiped. Instead, Tony held court at the kitchen table for hours, explaining how convection heating worked and tinkering with their microwave to make it work more efficiently. The kids were mesmerized, Carol basically hired him, and Steve…

Steve needed to go see his brother so he could remember that Tony was not available.

Visiting hours opened at 9am for the ICU, and Steve was the first one there.

“Hugh, you are a mother fucking son of a bitch, you know that,” Steve huffed out on a laugh. “A total son of a bitch both literally and metaphorically.”

He sat in silence for a few minutes, accompanied by the steady rhythms of the heart monitors and other various machines that were helping Ransom heal. The doctors were going to determine today if he was stable enough to be put in a hypothermic treatment, where they’d intentionally lower his body temperature in order to reduce swelling in his brain. Dr. Strange was going to make the call around noon, Steve remembered.

Steve’s eyes roved over his brother - a man he used to know as well as he knew himself - and tried to remember where it all went wrong.

 _“About seven seconds after I showed up,”_ he could hear Bucky say, the way his best friend had a million times before, whenever they’d had this conversation. _“When he decided I was less than youse and you decided that was bullshit.”_

And Bucky was right - even though that wasn't the first signal of a fracture between the brothers, it was the one that Steve could never go back from. When they’d played as just brothers, it was okay with Steve that Ransom had to be in charge, but once Bucky showed up, Steve wasn’t so sure it had to be automatic and Random, of course, disagreed.

The rest of their childhood had been full of confusion for Steve. He’d feel his most normal at the Singh’s or with Bucky and Winnie, and then get scolded by his family for not fitting in with them. It wasn’t until Steve’s thirteenth birthday that he decided once and for all that they were the problem and not him.

He’d tried desperately to make Ransom see, but Ransom wasn’t interested. There was a piece of Steve’s soul that just felt… wonky without Ransom. He was sure he was putting too much stock into the twinsense thing that other twins seemed to have, but Steve had come to accept that it was okay to grieve that the relationship with his brother would never be what he craved it to be.

He had other family - Bucky, Carol, Nat, the kids - and they were wonderful. But…

“So it looks like you made one good choice,” Steve said out loud. “Tony is something else, buddy, and I’m really glad you found him. I’m glad you have someone who is smarter than you and I hope you let him be. I hope you see how special he is, how…”

Steve ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know what the rest of the family is going to do with you here - if they’re going to stay or what, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here as often as they’ll let me and something tells me Tony will, too. So we’ll take care of everything, Hugh. You just focus on getting better.

“I was gonna call you, you know. I was working up the courage. I wanted to tell you that I got shortlisted for this national award and that there would be a big party and that I was pretty excited. I wanted to tell you about the house and make you give me some of Grandad’s money,” Steve laughed. “We need a new roof and that’s pocket change to you, I’d assume, unless you’ve lost that uncanny ability you had to wheedle money out of people and hoard it.”

“This isn’t how I wanted this to go,” Steve said after a few moments of silence. “But I’m going to treat this as a chance for us to maybe be brothers again. So you fight like hell, you hear me?”

_Because if you don’t, there’ll be no one to stop me from falling for Tony._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next week, where Tony has some words with Linda Drysdale that I have a feeling you will all enjoy. 
> 
> Thanks for the comments on this - they are super-de-duper valued.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony verbally slaps Linda around a bit, and Steve and Tony tell stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, kids there are some things in here. First up, Linda will use a homophobic slur for Bucky and Steve because... well, she's a bitch, so to be expected, but mind yourself on that one. Second, Steve is going to tell the story of why he's a social worker and in involves a trip he took to Rwanda and the fallout of the genocide there. The story he tells is not graphic, but it is descriptive, so if talk like that is a hard pass for you, skip from "she pointed out her window" to "she created family", about three paragraphs down. I'll summarize in the end notes. 
> 
> There is also, don't worry, enough pine to build a log mansion, but pieces are moving. 
> 
> Thanks to ko, Damy, Marie, Issa, Jeh, and Ferret for the betaing/cheering/hand holding. 
> 
> SPEAKING OF [ISSA. ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewaythatwerust/pseuds/thewaythatwerust)Y'ALL. She did some art for the Big Scene and it is GORGEOUS. Make sure to tell her exactly how much you love it - because you're going to. 
> 
> And now... on with the show.

* * *

**Four Days Since the Accident**

“So I turned on your phone for the first time,” Tony said, “and whooooo buddy, did I not realize how many other places you were getting your dick wet.”

He was answered only by the rhythmic breathing of Ransom’s machines.

“Some of them we really should have talked about sharing, but it also served as a great reminder to get tested.”

Dr. Strange had been in that morning to tell Tony that the hypothermic treatment they’d put Ransom into had worked... kinda. There was something called a ‘care conference’ in a few minutes, where Ransom’s doctors were going to present the current state of his body and their plans for returning it to a functional state. Someone had unfortunately alerted the Drysdales so they’d be in attendance. Tony just hoped Steve would be, too. It would be nice to have one other rational person in there.

Tony was currently sitting in the recliner in Ransom’s room, flipping through Ransom’s phone after realizing that people may be trying to get in touch and Tony should maybe field some texts. He hadn’t bothered to turn it on before then and wasn’t surprised when he realized he didn’t know the passcode. Only took him a few moments to hack in, but still - another reminder that Tony was inconsequential to Ransom.

And now everyone thought they were engaged.

“When this all blows up in my face,” Tony commented drolly, “I’m really not going to miss you or any of these people in your phone. And if that isn’t a shocking enough revelation, I find out that you sent pictures of me to the Rodriguez twins and I don’t care for it, pal.”

Four days previous, when he’d blurted the three word lie about how he was connected to Ransom, he could have never predicted how his life would be turned upside down. On Friday night, when he’d arrived at the club, he was proud of how he was maintaining the carefully constructed wall between Public Tony and Inventor Tony, which is how he referred to himself in his mind.

“Which is not unhinged or worrying or any of the other words you use when you’re cajolling me to therapy, Pepper,” Tony muttered out loud.

And then, in a matter of days, the wall was crumbling. The first crack came in the person of Steve Rogers, and then…

Having Public Tony as the default didn’t seem as appealing as it once did.

An alarm sounded on his phone and he realized that it was time for the meeting.

“Alright, dear fictionally almost husband, I have to go meet the dramatic wolves you call family.”

When Tony arrived in the conference room, he saw that Steve and Bucky had already arrived and taken seats closest to Dr. Strange. Steve had a notebook that looked to be full of writing - questions, I’m sure - and Bucky was listening intently to whatever the doctor and Steve were talking about.

“Tony!” Joni Thrombey greeted him and Tony flipped on his sycophant smile and air kissed both of her cheeks.

“Hello, Joni,” Tony replied and repeated his salutations to the entire conglomerate. Linda replied with cool indifference, Dick with faked conviviality, and Meg barely looked up from her phone. Harlan rose from his seat and extended Tony his hand and Tony saw the nurse - Marta - pay close attention from the corner.

“Tony, my boy,” Harlan said, “thank you for coming.”

“Well,” Tony said slowly, “I am marrying him. Figured I should be apprised of his medical condition.”

Linda snorted softly, but before she could say anything, three more doctors came into the room and Strange called the meeting to order.

* * *

“Let me see if I understand this,” Steve said to the panel of doctors, his voice slightly strangled with emotion. He was determined, however, to keep it together. “You are saying that while the hypothermic treatment was successful in terms of brain matter, you won’t know until he wakes up if it was in terms of cognitive functions.”

Dr. Strange nodded. “We can run all the tests we want on brain functions, but we’ll never know cognitive functions until he comes out of the coma.”

“And the coma is medically induced?” That was from Tony.

Steve’s family was suspiciously quiet as the doctor revealed more and more details and he was more upset that he wasn’t surprised than by their behavior.

“We’ll be slowly weaning Mr. Drysdale off -”

“Are you guys allowed to call him Ransom? Because I’ve seen Patch Adams and I thought that was a thing now,” Tony interrupted the doctor whose name Steve could not remember. _Olsen? Olhead? Olfactory? No, that means smells. Geez, Rogers._

Dr. Olfactory wrinkled his nose at Tony’s question and Steve held back a snort. This guy was not happy that Tony didn’t give any fucks for any of them, really.

“We’ll be slowly weaning Ransom off the medicines that are keeping him unconscious now that we are confident he can breathe on his own. However, it will be his body that decides when he wakes up,” Dr. Olfactory replied tersely.

“So it’s now a waiting game?” Steve clarified and Strange nodded. The woman next to Strange - Dr. Palmer - spoke gently.

“We know it’s hard to not have a set timeline,” she said. “And we respect that you all have lives that do not revolve around his hospital bed, so please know that we’ll be monitoring him around the clock and will contact you at the first sign of change.”

“I’m not leaving my son,” Linda snapped and Steve jolted. For some reason, every time she referred to Ransom as her ‘son’ and him as ‘Steven’, it was like an electric shock down his spine.

“That is your preference,” Dr. Palmer replied calmly. “Now that Ransom is out of the ICU and settled into the neurology unit, visiting hours are laxer and you are free to come and go as you please.”

“We don’t need to take up any more of your time, doctors,” Tony said, his tone clipped but professional. “Is there anything else you need from us?”

“No, Mr. Stark,” Dr. Palmer replied.

“It’s doctor, actually,” Tony said and Steve struggled to hide his shock. “Of mechanical engineering and physics and the other I always forget, but if we’re using titles, then it’s doctor.”

Steve saw Joni’s eyes perk up and stopped himself from rolling his.

“Well, Dr. Stark,” Dr. Palmer said, biting back what looked like a smile, “we’ll be sure to contact you with anything we need, but you are all free to go.”

“Can we restrict access to Ransom’s room?” Linda said loudly as the physicians began to gather their notes.

Dr. Palmer paused and looked at the woman. “Do you mean for security purposes?”

Linda nodded and flung her hand in the direction of Steve and Bucky. “I don’t want them near my son.”

Steve felt Bucky’s hand clamp down on his knee.

“Can I inquire as to why, Mrs. Drysdale? Steve is Ransom’s brother,” Dr. Strange commented.

“If what Mr. Stark,” and oh Steve noticed that slight, “has said is true and my son is now in a homosexual relationship, then I believe his brother and his kiddie fiddling boyfriend are to blame and I would like to remove their access while he heals.”

Bucky’s hand went so tight that Steve was afraid his kneecap would shatter. He knew his mother hated him, it wasn’t like that was a secret. But the Ransom and Tony thing had made him hope that the homophobia of his childhood had worn off or something.

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Tony snapped and all the air went out of the room.

Steve temporarily forgot to breathe.

“Shut your fucking mouth right now, Linda, or retract your statement,” Tony continued and glanced at the doctors. “Could you give us the room?”

Tony held up his hand to prevent Linda from speaking until the five physicians had, in fact, left the conference room.

“I am allowed -”

“No,” Tony interrupted Linda. “Listen very closely to the words coming out of my mouth. You will retract that statement or you will not be in this room again until Ransom himself can consent to it, do you understand me?”

“How dare you,” she hissed back. “Who the fuck do you think you are? I am his mother and you are the child he is pretending to love.”

If Tony had any negative reaction to that, Steve couldn’t tell. Instead, Tony threw his head back and started to laugh. “Oh, lady, I think you’ll find that it’s the other way around. I’m the man he comes home to every night and you’re the womb he’s catering to for an inheritance that I’m fairly sure you don’t really even control, he’s just been too lazy to investigate. Lucky for him? I’m curious, bored, and astronomically smarter than all of you, so I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

There was a breath of silence before Tony continued and Steve was mesmerized and also a little bit grateful he didn’t need to respond because he wasn’t sure he could find the words in the chaos of anger, hurt, pain, and disgust rioting for primacy in his brain. In terms of what activated - his fight or flight - the shock was so intense that his system went for the third option - freeze.

“So, once again, you will retract your statement about Steven and James or I will forbid your entry into this hospital room.”

“You can’t do that,” Dick sputtered. “We’re his parents.”

“And Ransom is a 32-year-old man who gave me power of attorney -”

That was news to Steve.

“- and I’m the heir whose godmother sits on the Board of Directors of this hospital. So you wanna keep playing, Linda? I’ll keep going.”

“Steven is-”

“In this room, you unspeakable moron,” Tony cut her off and pointed to the door. “Out, now.”

“I’m not leaving,” Linda put her purse down in the empty chair next to Steve, as though staking her claim.

“Oh, you are making this so much fun for me, you don’t even know,” Tony smiled and pulled out his phone. He clicked a few buttons and then a female voice filled the air.

_“Yes, Dr. Stark?”_

“Darcy, can you possibly get Allison from Dr. Antanasio’s office on the phone? I need some security enforcement?”

_“Absolutely, Dr. Stark. Can you confirm the identities for the restraining order?”_

“Restraining order?” Dick screeched. He grabbed his wife by the forearm and spoke quietly to her. “Linda, that’s public record.”

“Fine,” Linda sneered at Tony, “you win. But someone will contact us when he is awake because he’ll want to see us.”

“I’m sure it’ll be his first priority,” Tony assured them. “Nevermind, Darcy.”

_“If that’s all, Dr. Stark?”_

“Yes, Darcy, thank you.” Tony pocketed the phone and glared at the Drysdales as they exited the room. He moved his lips as though he was counting to ten and Steve was slightly afraid to breathe.

Tony took his phone back out and slumped back down into his chair next to Steve, as though all the helium had been deflated from a balloon.

“Darce?”

_“They gone?”_

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah.”

_“What do J and I need to fix?”_

“I may have told them I had power of attorney. Also, great call on the doctor title.”

 _“I did some reading on the Drysdales over the past few days. Figured it would help. And J and I can have that solved quickly.”_ The voice that came through the loudspeaker sounded like it belonged to a woman his own age and Steve wasn’t quite sure why he’d always imagined Tony surrounded by senior citizens at SI. _“That all?”_

Tony looked at Steve. “You want dinner?”

“What?” Steve spoke for the first time since the whole incident kicked off. As soon as his mother had said… he just kinda froze within his own skin. He’d heard her say terrible things, homophobic things, racist things, all of the things before, but to hear… He should have known better than to assume years apart had dulled her sharp edges but the shock of the word was too much and Tony’s whirlwind of energy to solve the problem had taken the pressure off of him. But now the whirlwind was turned onto him and he didn’t know what to do, exactly. “Dinner? What?”

“Shawarma, maybe? I’m craving something salty,” Tony replied.

“Do I want…” Steve trailed off. “Tony, I have no idea what just happened here.”

“Oh, I lied to your parents to get them out of here because I can’t handle them anymore but Darcy and Jarvis are going to make sure my lies are truth in case there’s a paper trail.”

“I’m so confused,” Steve shook his head.

“Confusion is solved by shawarma,” Tony said confidently. “Darce, two orders from Malmood’s?”

_“To the hospital?”_

“Nah,” Tony said, casting an eye once again upon Steve. “The Navy Yard.”

_“Tony.”_

If Steve didn’t know better, he’d think Tony’s… assistant? Whoever the woman was was scolding him.

“It’s handled,” Tony replied, so maybe she was.

_“No, I’m sure it’s not, but fine. Extra tzatziki?”_

“If there’s baklava, tell Kovos I’ll rewire the cash register on Saturday.”

_“Got it.”_

Tony disconnected the call and heaved himself up from the chair. “Answers will come, I promise, but I can’t stay here and I have this apartment with a private roof patio and the night is nice, so how about some spiced meat and a sunset and I’ll explain a bit?”

“I’m going to head home,” Bucky called from his seat in the corner and Steve realized that he had completely forgotten that his best friend was even there.

From the way that Tony blinked rapid fire, he had as well.

“Are you sure,” Steve said, turning to Bucky. “That was -”

“None of that, what she said, who she is, matters to me at all, pal,” Bucky replied, cupping his hand on the back of Steve’s neck and pulling him so their foreheads touched. “I have never, for one second in my life cared what that woman thought of me, and - to be frank - I have also never wanted to suck your dick, so she’s not just homophobic, she’s dumb.”

Steve snorted and heard Tony chuckle from behind him. He knew that there was more than what Bucky was saying, but that to push right now would be emotionally disastrous for everyone.

“Go eat your spicy meat and I’ll cover at the house,” Bucky said, kissing Steve’s forehead and getting up.

“You’re welcome to come,” Tony offered and Bucky said no, that he was kinda drained from the drama and wanted to play _Dragon Age_ to blow off some steam.

“I may even offer to clean Nat’s shop,” Bucky continued.

“Fuck, you’re mad,” Steve laughed.

“She disgusts me outside the ability of the English language, Steven, so it may be time to address my emotions by scrubbing bleach into Nat’s floorboards.”

He saluted the two of them and left the conference room, closing the door behind him.

“Food?” Tony said and Steve nodded.

“Food.”

* * *

“So, why robots?”

Tony squinted at the man sitting beside him as he shoveled another piece of falafel into his mouth. “Why _not_ robots?”

Steve’s mouth quirked up into a grin. “Because they seem hard?”

Tony laughed. “Oh, my dear Stevo, what you do is hard, maybe even impossible. Robots are just wires and numbers and some metal. Simple stuff.”

“Simple stuff,” Steve repeated, a hint of awe in his voice. “I can’t figure out how to make my phone connect to the speakers that Peter installed in the kitchen, so forgive my skepticism.”

The pair were - as promised - on Tony’s roof. It was about 7, and the sun was setting and Tony was glad the skies over Manhattan were putting on a show for them tonight. Gorgeous streaks of pink fading into oranges colored their view as their conversation moved from small talk into something more significant.

“So,” Tony said, mirroring Steve’s earlier question, “why foster care?”

Steve chuckled. “You want the long answer or the short one?”

Tony gestured to the sky with his fork. “I got as long as there’s light up here. Haven’t gotten around to installing anything up here and climbing back down in the dark is best when you’re too drunk to see how terrifying that ladder is.”

“Noted,” Steve grinned. “I’ll make sure to bring Pietro over so he can break it and you can install actual safe equipment.”

 _He’s plotting bringing the kids over._ Tony’s heart skittered and then he remembered that Steve thought Tony was marrying into the family and that’s the only reason Steve was thinking like that.

“Yeah, yeah, License and Inspection,” Tony said instead. “I get it. Anyway, I want the long version.”

“Well,” Steve said, “that answer actually starts with my sophomore year of college. I was majoring in elementary education at that point. I’d just broken up with Carol and a buddy of mine was heading to Rwanda on an ‘educational immersion trip’.”

“A what now?”

Steve grinned and Tony’s heart skipped a beat. _Jesus, does he have to be Ransom but *more* gorgeous. That goddamn beard._

“Carol and I went to Brooklyn Arcadia, which has this promise that every student will get a chance to experience a life different than their own. It’s cheesy, and doesn’t always work out, but it’s one of the reasons I wanted to go. They offer classes where you backpack through India for six weeks through their religion department - and you spend the whole time asking people what they believe and experiencing different styles of worship. The engineering department goes to build lighting for villages in Ecuador out of coconuts or something else insane like that. It’s that kind of place. And the summer after my freshman year, the School of Social Work and the School of Medicine were going to Rwanda to work with an organization called Partners in Health.”

Steve paused and took another bite of his dinner. Tony would normally jump in at that point, but for some reason, he wanted to hold the silence.

“They’re based outta Boston,” Steve continued, “and they have this idea that Western level medical care should be available in the remotest of places. Basically, where you’re born shouldn’t determine what level of medical care you get, which… you know... is so simple that it blew my little 19-year-old mind. My roommate was pre-med, so he was going to learn how to do surgery with limited resources or what not, but the social work team was going to learn about child care in Rwanda.

“One of the staff when we were there was an Irish doctor named Mike, and he was basically amazing,” Steve laughed and Tony smiled. “I still talk to him and his wife, they live in Belfast and have these two kids and anyway, he was a pediatrician there and worked closely with the social services teams that went out into the villages to provide at-home care for families and children. He showed me how to ask questions in simple ways so that culture and language never got in the way of truth, and he…”

Steve trailed off and took another few bites of his food. “God, I’m talking too much.”

 _I could listen to you talk forever,_ Tony’s brain quickly responded. “I asked.”

Steve furrowed his brow, but nodded. “Just interrupt me whenever.”

_That is not happening because time is elastic and I want to live in this moment forever and when the fuck did I turn into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie?_

“Our lives were pretty different, so I don’t know if you ever felt this way,” Steve said, turning his head to directly address Tony, “but when I was 19, I was convinced I knew how the world worked. All of the injustice, all of the unfairness, all of the things that didn’t work - they could be fixed with the right people in charge and the right ideas. I had no concept of ambiguity, I just figured out who was a bully and did my best to get rid of them.”

“MJ mentioned something the other night about you teaching her to box?”

Steve laughed and shifted back to staring at the sky while he told his story. Which Tony was exceptionally grateful for because Steve Rogers’ full attention was not something one enjoyed lightly. “She’s a little shit, but yes, I did because she was a walking ball of rage when she first came to us and I know what that feels like. I showed up at college fucking furious with the world and I spent a good chunk of my freshman year in bar brawls and alley fights and I’d just kick the ass of anyone who used a gay slur or hit on a girl who didn’t want to be hit on. Carol met Nat, actually, this one night that I knocked a guy unconscious for trying to spike a girl’s drink.”

He… Tony’s brain stuttered a bit at ‘knocked someone unconscious’ and his eyes flitted to Steve’s hands. He’d never noticed them before - but they were _large_ and seemed _capable_ and that led to mental images Tony did not need about his _fake_ fiancé’s twin brother.

“That story after this one,” Tony said instead of _“Are your hands good with dicks, too? Just good for punching or can those fingers open my ass up right here on the roof?”_

“Got it,” Steve grinned. “So anyway, I headed to Rwanda thinking that I understood the genocide because I’d read a few books and watched that movie and that I understood poverty because I’d been to a homeless shelter once to serve food. And holy fuck, was I wrong.”

“About everything?”

“About everything,” Steve affirmed, “but mostly about myself. There was this one -” He stopped himself and looked at Tony. “This gets a little rough, I just realized, I never tell this part of the story, but it’s kinda… I can skip…”

“Steven, we don’t know each other very well, but my fifth birthday was spent in a safe house in Medellin, Colombia because I was kidnapped for a ten million dollar ransom that my father was refusing to pay. Whatever you got, I’m fine.”

The look on Steve’s face triggered something in Tony. _Oh, God, I should not have said that. I have literally never told anyone that, everyone just knows because of course I was kidnapped a bunch and of course Howard never paid and I usually got myself out or Aunt Peggy did and he doesn’t know that world and holy fuck, I should not have said that._

“I’m getting that story later,” Steve said, a sound in his voice that sounded like he was holding back tears, but Tony knew that couldn’t be true.

“So, it was about eight days into the trip and we went to this really tiny village down on the border with Tanzania and it was me, Mike, two social work students, and one of the social work professors named Jon. Mike was going to see a few of his patients and he’d asked in advance if he could bring some Americans along and the patients had all said yes,” Steve smiled fondly, as though lost in the memory.

“This village was, maybe, fifty people, but there was a giant church in the middle of it, and so I asked Mike what the deal was with a huge church for fifty people and he said that the village used to be larger, but also that people came for miles around to worship there. It was a Catholic church, which was evidently the predominant religion in Rwanda before the ‘94 genocide.”

“You say ‘94 like there were others,” Tony said slowly and was once again caught off guard with something he didn’t know. He was not used to being around people who could do that and it was simultaneously wigging him out, turning him on, and motivating him to start watching documentaries while he worked on his projects.

“There were,” Steve said simply, “lots and lots, just that ‘94 was the biggest. But anyway, I’d never really given thought to church or religion, not really. I think I was baptized at some point and I have vague memories of Sunday School and maybe Christmas Eve, but as you can imagine, my mother wasn’t big on being part of any institution where she wasn’t the most powerful thing.”

Tony laughed and took a long sip of the IPA he’d been nursing. He was normally a whiskey guy, but shawarma demanded hops. “Yeah, I don’t see Linda as a church lady.”

“So I’d never given much thought to it, like I said, but then we went to the first house, and that’s where my life changed, Tony, sorry it sounds cheesy, but in a 4x4 room in Nyarubuye, Rwanda, my life just shifted.” Steve’s voice was heavy with both tears and wonder.

“This woman, Claudine, was raising five children and none of them were hers. It was 2007, by the way, I should have said that, and the oldest boy she introduced us to was 15. He’d been orphaned in the massacre, she told us, and so was she, and so they created family. I asked what the massacre was, and Mike told me that he’d tell me later, but Claudine spoke enough English to understand my question and she told Mike she wanted to tell me.

“She pointed out her window to the large church and told me that everyone in her village had thought the church would be safe, because churches were safe places, of course they were, and so when the machetes started flying - fueled by banana beer and racism and generational poverty - they all ran to the church. And then the priest locked the doors behind him and let the machete men in and everyone died. She told me they were still, thirteen years later, finding bones in the grounds outside. She lost her entire family, and so did the little boy. She wasn’t in the church because she stopped to pee behind a tree while the rest of her family ran and she didn’t get inside the gates in time. She hid for three days and then tried to find her parents.”

Steve wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Sorry, I’m usually in a much more professional setting when I talk about this, but-”

“It’s been a fucking day, Rogers, I think you get to cry about murdered Rwandans,” Tony murmured and placed his hand on Steve’s back to comfort him.

“Anyway, she heard Pierre crying - that was the little boy - in a house a little ways away and so she picked him up and started to care for him. Some of the women in the surrounding villages who hadn’t gone to the church had been raped by the machete men - that’s what she kept calling them - and a lot of them died in childbirth because their main source of food in that part of Rwanda was bananas and so they bled out from a lack of iron. Mike told us later that it was common. So she took a few of those kids, too. And she just created family.

“She took in sewing to earn some extra money, did laundry, and her neighbors did what they could to make sure the kids got food. She said her whole life changed the day of the massacre because she understood what God wanted her to do,” Steve said.

“I was shocked, Tony, because she’d just told me that the priest effectively murdered all these people, her whole family, and now she’s talking to me about God. The look on my face must have been shocked because she started to laugh. ‘White boy,’ she told me, ‘you must look for God outside of men because she is not limited by men. You must look for God wherever there is love, because that is where God is.’ Claudine told me that day that God called her to be a mother and she’s never looked back. It’s been hard, impossible, terrible, and beautiful and she liked her life. She’d like it better if she could get rid of the cough she had, but that’s what Dr. Mike was for and so she thanked God for sending Dr. Mike.

“Mike asked us all to wait outside at that point, so he could do her actual exam, and so we gave them privacy, but my knees were shaking as we walked back to the van. I was silent the rest of the day - I couldn’t square the circle. Jon and Mike came to me after dinner and asked if I wanted to take a walk with them. I know now that they realized I was crumbling, that they saw the signs in me I’ve seen in so many other kids - that the world as I knew it had shifted and I couldn't find solid ground again,” Steve smiled and took a long sip from his beer bottle, finishing it and grabbing another from the small cooler that sat between them.

“I was quiet for the first few minutes, I think, and then I started screaming at them. I screamed about how unfair the world was and how terrible everything was and how I couldn’t do anything and if God sent Dr. Mike to Claudine, why didn’t God send warriors to defend the people in the church that day and what the living fuck was I supposed to do with any of it, and they let me just rail and then Jon finally said quietly that he didn’t know and I stopped short. Never in my life had I heard an adult tell me they didn’t know something.”

Steve laughed. “Now, I make sure to tell every kid I don’t know something within the first week of them living with us. Anyway, I started to laugh that night and Mike and Jon and I all started going back and forth about the things we didn’t know. Mike didn’t know how to ask his girlfriend to marry him, Jon didn’t know how to help his son navigate being gay in high school, I didn’t know how to live without my family. And at the end of it, Jon asked me what I did know and that took longer than I expected to answer.

“I knew that I wanted to be family for people who didn’t have one, and I knew that I never wanted to forget the look on Claudine’s face when she told me that it was well with her soul, and that I wanted to understand God the way she did,” Steve said, his voice clear and sure. “And Jon asked if I’d ever thought about social work rather than elementary ed, and I said I hadn’t, so we spent the rest of the walk talking about foster care and how I could make a difference there and basically be a support to people like Claudine in the U.S..

“And I wasn’t sure I wanted to believe in God, or that I did,” Steve continued, “but I wanted to know what Claudine knew.”

“Do you?”

“Yes,” Steve said, “I do. I know that I’m a social worker who specializes in foster care and adoption because I want to help people find family. I know I’m good at it because of the way I feel in my bones when a kid is healthier when they leave Koinonia than when they arrived. And I know God for myself now, and I know what she’s called me to do.”

“She?”

Steve grinned. “Yeah, I know, but Jon helped me think a lot about how I wanted to talk to God, and I decided that what I wanted most was a mother, so that’s how I refer to God. It’s radical, but not weird, I promise. There’s lots of us who do.”

“Okay,” Tony said slowly.

“It was all too much, wasn’t it,” Steve rushed out. “I have a hard time… I’m sorry. That was all overwhelming and you already had an overwhelming day with having to hear all of that about Ransom…”

 _Who I completely forgot about until this second._ “Hey, I asked. It’s a lot, but not too much, I promise.”

Steve made a face, but nodded.

“The real answer to ‘why robots’,” Tony said after a few moments of silence, “is that I hate making weapons.”

Tony knew he was about to dive off the cliff if he kept telling this story, if he said these words out loud to this man. And yet, they tumbled out.

“The first time Howard took me on a trip to do a weapons deal, I was ten. I’d just finished helping him create what I thought was a nifty trick to make secure mobile phones even more mobile, basically the prototype of a smartphone, but he converted it into a weapons communications system pretty easily. We were in Saudi Arabia, at some palace, and they asked me to demonstrate how it would work.” Tony fiddled with his cuticles as he spoke and his knees were bouncing. I gotta move. He jumped up from his seat and started pacing as he spoke.

“The guys asked if they needed to leave the house to kill people, basically, and Howard said no, that’s what was so great about my invention,” Tony laughed. “My invention, Steve, allowed these dudes wearing sheety robe thingys to lounge around and casually decimate villages and I wanted to vomit everywhere but I had to keep a straight face because Stark men are made of iron and if I flinched I knew it wouldn’t end well for me once we got back on the jet.”

Steve made a noise, like a growl, and Tony’s head turned towards him. “I’m fine, Steve.”

“I’m sure you think so,” Steve said evenly.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Tony felt his hackles rise.

Steve held his gaze for a few beats and then sighed. “Sorry, I have a hard time hearing about children being used like that. I want to hear the rest, Tony, and I’ll be quiet, I promise.”

Tony worried his lip, but resumed his pacing. “So I stood there, like a good little soldier, and peddled my weapon of mass destruction and went home that day and swore the minute the thing was mine, we wouldn’t make weapons.”

“Isn’t it yours now?”

“Ah, see, that’s where this gets fun,” Tony said. “Allow me to tell you about the Stark Industries Board of Directors, who are a bunch of very wrinkly white men whose fortunes rest on our weapons production. I inherited my father’s stocks, so I own 40% of the company, but my mother needs to give me her shares or die for me to control the 60% I need to get anything done. And Maria is not inclined to abandon her stock options at this time.”

“But you still own 40%,” Steve said slowly. “Doesn’t that-”

“No,” Tony cut him off while both Inner!Pepper and Inner!Rhodey told him to explain it all to Steve, to explain about Obie and Howard’s deal and the will and everything. “So for now, I invent and sell under a shell company that my friend Bruce runs. We don’t have the resources to go into mass production on anything, but we’ve got a Kickstarter going right now for the prototype all-terrain wheelchair I’m working on. But that’s your answer - I build robots because I hate building weapons.”

Silence fell between the two men and Tony could hear the honking and rustling and chaos of Brooklyn below them. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, but the position of the sun told him was probably only five minutes, Steve spoke.

“Thank you for trusting me with that. I’m sure you’ve only ever told Ransom or Pepper or her husband before, it sounds like, so thank you.”

Tony’s head whipped to Steve’s. “You remember Pepper’s name?”

A look of confusion passed over Steve’s face. “She’s your best friend, of course I remember her name.”

 _Your brother never bothered to._ He had to shut this down now before he crawled into Steve’s lap and asked if they could get married instead. “Well, you’re welcome. I’m feelinged out, can we go inside?”

“I never did get an explanation of who the woman on the phone was or who J is, but, yeah, I should be getting home,” Steve responded.

_Oh god, please don’t._

_Fuck, where did that come from?_

_Fuck, fuck, fuuuuucccckkk._

“Well, I guess we’ll just need to get more shawarma later,” Tony quipped.

“You are about to be family, after all,” Steve said, but that strangled tone was back and Tony could not investigate why that was.

About thirty minutes later, with Steve safely in an Uber, Tony collapsed onto the couch and stared at the ceiling.

“J,” he said softly.

“Yes, Sir?”

“I need you to do some research for me.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“I need an answer to the question, ‘What do I do if I’m in love with my fake fiance’s twin brother?’”

When the AI didn’t respond, Tony prodded him. “Jarvis?”

“I don’t require research time for that, Sir,” Jarvis replied, primly.

“Oh?”

“The answer to your predicament is to inform Mr. Rogers of the deception and confess your feelings,” Jarvis replied.

“So you’ve been talking to Pepper,” Tony groaned.

“Ms. Potts and I converse from time to time, Sir, yes.”

“Everyone’s fucking against me,” Tony protested.

“On the contrary, Sir,” Jarvis replied. “We just want you to be happy. My prime directorate is your safety, of which your happiness is a subdirective.”

“An impossible subdirective you only evolved to because Pepper implanted it,” Tony protested.

“And Dr. Banner,” Jarvis said cheerfully.

“Conspiracies. I’m surrounded by conspiracies.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Tony lay in silence for a couple of minutes. “I’m completely fucked, aren’t I?”

“Well,” Jarvis replied.

“RHETORICAL, J.”

“Of course, Sir.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _re: Claudine_ : basically, she tells Steve the story of a particular event that happened during the 1994 genocide. It is the motivating factor for her life, and hearing it helps Steve frame the motivating factor for his. 
> 
> Claudine is a real person, as are Mike and Jon, and Steve's story in this is mine - with some tweaks for sure. But I could smell that village while I wrote this and see the church and I took that walk with advisors of my own. I've had the insane privilege of sitting in a lot of houses around the world where people have been generous with their truths, their stories, and their lives and I'm better for it. If you have any questions about Rwanda, or anything else in this chapter, leave a comment or find me on Discord. Unless you want to tell me I'm totally wrong, which please don't, I'm happy to explain further. 
> 
> Oh, and Partners in Health is real and wonderful. Dr. Paul Farmer, the founder, is one of my personal heroes. Brooklyn Arcadia is not - I stole that from my story "Once Upon a Time in Brooklyn". 
> 
> Next chapter is fluffier... ish. But! We do get to see Steve and MJ playing video games together and Peter trying to write an English essay in the middle of their bickering. 
> 
> Oh... and Bucky's loosing patience with being a secret keeper. 
> 
> See you Friday!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn more about everyone - including that Steve really loves sweaters, pistachio ice cream, and Tony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kindness and comments on the last chapter. This one is fluffy, I promise. This chapter takes up most of the month of May and into June, FYI. There are time jumps between each section - but I only specify how much time when it matters. 
> 
> Oh, and Markey? That reference Steve makes when he's talking to Carol? Just for you, dear.

* * *

“Pepper.”

“I heard you the first seven times, Tony,” Pepper replied. “I still don’t see what the big deal is.”

Tony inhaled through his nostrils and enunciated carefully. “I told Steve that I wanted to shut down the weapons division.”

“And?”

“And?! AND? I don’t tell anyone that. I certainly haven’t told my supposed fiance that, and it’s never going to happen anyway, so I should not have said that. I should not have said all of that, I shouldn’t have taken him to the roof-”

“The roof?! You took him to the roof?!” Pepper’s voice screeched through the Bluetooth in Tony’s car as he drove down 278 to Staten Island. He was on his way to meet a contact of Rhodey’s who was helping him get Peter access to some Air Force technology.

“So bearing my soul doesn’t concern you, but taking him to my roof does?”

“You designed the roof so that no one would ever go up there,” Pepper reminded him. “You told me -”

“Pepper, this is literally what I’m telling you. I took him to the roof, and I told him about the plan, and now it’s all fucked up beyond all reason,” Tony pounded the steering wheel on each of the last words.

“Correct,” Pepper said.

“Pepper,” Tony whined, drawing out the last syllable of her name.

“Tony, love, what do you want from me? Everything wrong with your life right now is in your control to fix. You want to stop making weapons? Hire the best lawyer on the planet to prove that Obie falsified the will because we know he did and take over your fucking company. You want to date Steve Rogers? Tell him you’re actually not engaged to his twin, never were, and only kinda wanted to be because you’re desperate for affection but don’t think you deserve nice things.”

There was silence after that rant as Tony let all her words hang in the cabin of the car.

“Wow, Pep, tell me what you really think.”

“Shit, Tony, I’m -”

“I’m about to hit a tunnel, gonna lose you, bye,” Tony said quickly as he hit the ‘end call’ button on the steering wheel to cut off the Bluetooth. As soon as the call was disconnected, the sounds of CHVRCHES filled the car.

“It’s not that simple,” Tony told the air. “It’s not. She has no idea how complicated it would be to oust the board or to expose Obie. None. And telling Steve that I’m a giant liar? HA! The man would never talk to me again. No, my plan is the best for now.”

_Love is worth being brave for._

The line, spoken in Steve’s voice, came into his brain unbidden. It was from a conversation Tony had overheard Steve having with MJ a few days previous. She’d been talking about how hard it was to trust that she was allowed to stay in the house as long as she wanted. Tony and Peter had been dicking around with a motherboard and so Tony hadn’t been able to hear the other conversation until Peter ran off temporarily to get a wire from his room.

_“And you’re sure, you’re positive?” MJ said and Tony could hear the worry in her voice._

_“Your grades only have to be passing, MJ, they don’t have to be excellent,” Steve reassured her. “Plus, the rule with the state is that you have to be in danger of failing an entire grade, not just chemistry.”_

_“I hate chemistry,” MJ muttered._

_“You hate anything that makes you feel stupid,” Steve chuckled. “I’m the same. And chemistry makes me feel really stupid.”_

_Chemistry is just formulas and memorizations, Tony thought. It’s not hard._

_“I just don’t want to let you guys down,” MJ confessed._

_“You can’t,” Steve said. “All that’s required for us is for you to come home at the end of the day. That’s it. Be yourself, and come home. That’s all we want.”_

_“That feels scary.”_

_“Well, love is worth being brave for, I think, don’t you?”_

That idea had stopped Tony in his tracks then and it served the same purpose in the car.

“Yeah,” he said outloud, “but what if it’s not love and it’s just a pleasant fuck? What then?”

The car, sadly, had no answer.

* * *

Steve was being weird.

Bucky had long ago created a taxonomy of Steve Rogers weirdness, though, so he should have been prepared. There was the weird way he held his face when a girl hit on him but he didn’t want to be rude. Then there was the weirdness that happened whenever someone talked about foster kids as ‘bad seeds’ and Steve was doing everything he could to not knock someone unconscious. There was the weird walk he got when he was trying to act normal, but he thought one of the kids was in danger, and the general weirdness he exhibited whenever it was one of the Drysdale or Thrombey’s birthdays and another year went by without reconciliation.

The weird he was being now was new.

Bucky didn’t appreciate new.

New meant there was information Bucky didn’t have, which meant he couldn’t be prepared for whenever the proverbial shit hit the fan. Which it would, because if nearly three decades of life with Steve had taught him anything, it had taught him that.

Five days after the horrible bullshit at the hospital and Bucky had found his equilibrium again. He had known Linda Drysdale for most of his life, so it honestly shouldn’t have shocked him that she called him that. He’d heard her say atrocious things about ‘the help’, as had Ransom, as had so many people who’d come to the house over the years. Bucky had learned quickly and young that when people showed you who they were you should believe them.

Linda had shown him who she was years ago, when Steve told her that he was gay and she got her checkbook to send him to conversion therapy. Thus, Bucky really shouldn’t have been surprised at the words she used, but they were still like a bazooka to his solar plexus.

He’d recovered, though, and Nat’s baseboards were sparkling clean. Steve, however, was being weird.

He decided to confront Steve in his workshop after all the kids went to bed.

“Stevie,” Bucky called as he went down the stairs. “You got a minute?”

There wasn’t any response, so Bucky went down a few more stairs and called again just as Steve came into view. Bucky could see that Steve’s jaw was clenched and he was muttering to himself as he sanded what appeared to be a table leg.

“What are you saying there, pal?”

His head shot up and Bucky could tell Steve hadn’t heard him at all. “Sorry, Buck. Didn’t hear ya come in. Everything okay?”

“Actually came to ask you that question myself,” Bucky said casually.

“I’m fine,” Steve said.

“You’re a liar,” Bucky replied, keeping his voice even. “You’ve been off since that meeting. Was it your ma-”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Once I got over the shock, I was fine. Linda’s said worse than that, I just figured she’d be more politically correct or something in front of the doctors.”

“Yeah, me too,” Bucky admitted. “So why are you being weird?”

“I’m not being weird.”

Bucky snorted and started ticking off his fingers. “You told MJ that she could have Peter over after curfew and didn’t even seem phased when she pointed it out. You allowed Pietro to use his skateboard in the house. You missed our call with Val because you ‘lost track of time’ which I didn’t think you were physically capable of. You -”

“I told him about Claudine,” Steve blurted out and Bucky froze.

“You told who about Claudine?”

“Tony,” Steve sighed and put down all the tools he had been using to favor running his fingers over through his beard and leaning back in his chair. “I told Tony about Jon, and Mike, and Claudine, and the church and everything.”

“You don’t-”

“There are, what, five people on the planet who know the full story besides who was there? I don’t talk about Rwanda.”

“I know, buddy.” Bucky was quiet, even though his brain was whirring.

“I should not have done that,” Steve continued. “I should not have done that.”

“Okay, Hagrid,” Bucky put up a hand. “What is so dramatic about -”

“He’s Ransom’s, James,” Steve snapped out and Bucky noticed there was a sheen of tears over his best friend’s eyes. “He’s not mine to… He’s Ransom’s.”

_Oh, fuck._

“That doesn’t mean that it’s catastrophic that you told your brother’s fiancé about a really important thing in your life,” Bucky said. Even though it’s all fake and Ransom has no idea and this is starting to really stress me the fuck out.

“Buck, when we were up on that roof, I didn’t even remember I had a brother,” Steve laughed. “Between watching Tony destroy Linda, and then some stories he told, I’m not sure I would have remembered Ransom’s name if you gave me all my trust fund back.”

_Oh fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuuuuuck._

“Oh, pal,” Bucky said softly, crossing the room to pull his best friend into a hug. “That sucks.”

“I’m fine,” Steve said into Bucky’s torso. He pulled back from the hug to look up at Bucky, who pressed their foreheads together.

“You’re a liar,” Bucky responded for the second time in a span of a few minutes. “But we’re gonna let it slide. You wanna come up and we’ll watch something?”

Steve shook his head. “I need to finish this table.”

Bucky nodded and headed back up the stairs. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed for the back porch. After settling himself into a chair that gave him a good view of the moon, he took a long pull on his beer bottle and said five words out loud.

“This is gonna get messy.”

He wanted to say more, he wanted to rage and scream and talk to someone about all of this - how none of it was true, how it was all a result of Tony’s cripplingly terrible self-concept, and how everyone could get their happily ever after if Tony could just be brave for five seconds.

But he had no idea how to do any of that without simultaneously shattering everything, so instead, he sat and stewed in his own thoughts for a while as he sipped his beer. When he was well onto his second bottle, he sighed deeply and then pulled out his phone, scrolling to the text thread with the person who could pull him out of his head tonight.

_WhatsApp: Sam Wilson_

_Bucky: You up?_

_Sam: Hey, James. Been a while._

_Bucky: Yeah, sorry._

_Sam: We’re cool._

_Bucky: you busy?_

_Sam: I’m watching Friday Night Lights for the sixth time, but I think I can clear my schedule for you. What’s up?_

_Bucky: I can’t talk about it._

_Sam: Got it. Can you come over here?_

_Bucky: No, Stevie can’t be alone._

_Sam: So you want me to tell you what I’d do if you were here?_

_Bucky: Oh fuck, please._

* * *

Steve had no idea, really, how long he stayed down there in his workshop in the week following the Night on The Roof, as he had begun referring to it in his head. It deserved capital letters and marquee lighting because - for him - there was no going back. He was absolutely in love with Tony Stark.

It had been hard seeing him be so good with the kids, and damn near impossible when he annihilated Linda. But then, Steve got a secret out of him, and saw a piece of Tony that he was pretty sure no one else saw and if that wasn’t the most intoxicating…

“No one else but your unconscious brother, you lecherous oaf,” Steve scolded himself.

“Hey, we don’t talk about our friends that way,” Carol’s voice carried warmth and a smile and Steve raised his head to meet it. She was standing on the bottom step, holding a pan that smelled like brownies. “You got any idea what time it is?”

Steve shook his head. “I’m guessing late if you’re asking.”

“2am, dear,” Carol said. “And this is your sixth night in a row burning all the candles and I’m sure you have now finished enough furniture to fund our summer so you wanna tell me what’s in your head?”

“Tony,” Steve said simply. He’d known Carol for too long and they’d seen too much together for Steve to be anything but honest. He tried to hide a bit with Bucky, but that hadn’t worked. He had to keep on a brave front for the kids - especially when Tony had dropped by the day before with tickets to some exhibit on mummification for MJ - but with Carol, there was never any hiding.

“You gonna be able to survive this?”

Instead of answering, Steve leaned back and took off his safety goggles. “Brownies?”

“MJ’s worried and she’s stress baking. I sent her to bed with the promise that you’d talk to her tomorrow, so I figure we’ll come up with a plan to explain to her why you’re setting off all her sensors.”

Steve ran his hands over his face. “When I first listened to _Hamilton_ , one of the parts I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around was Angelica’s line that ‘at least I keep his eyes in my life’ when she’s talking about introducing Eliza and Alexander. I couldn’t understand why you wouldn’t fight for someone you obviously loved so deeply and I know that she was actually married and all the gender stuff, but... “

He trailed off and took a brownie from the pan and gestured to Carol for her to sit on one of the chairs he’d just finished building.

“But now,” he whispered. “Now I get it. I’ll settle for being his brother-in-law because I have to and because he’s not mine, but…”

“You’ll never be satisfied,” Carol sang back and Steve huffed out a laugh.

“I’m giving myself tonight,” Steve said, “to wallow. I’ve come up with a plan for how to be around him and I’m really grateful I didn’t run into him at the hospital at all this week or it would have been harder, but I’ve got a plan.”

“And Steve Rogers with a plan can do anything,” Carol replied.

“You’re mocking me,” Steve narrowed his eyes.

“No, Steve, I’m just stating fact,” Carol said. “You are a master of execution.”

She was silent for a few beats before continuing.

“But I worry you’re setting the wrong goal. I think if that man marries your brother without hearing how you feel about him, you’re an idiot,” Carol replied.

“Well, let’s allow Ransom to wake up from a life threatening coma first, shall we?” Steve knew his tone was biting, but he just didn’t care.

“You get to be a priority in your own life, Steve. I promise you do,” Carol said quietly, before kissing him on the forehead, leaving the brownie tray behind, and heading back upstairs.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Tony Stark_

_Tony: Last week, you asked about J._

_Tony: J is my butler, kinda._

_Steve: Kinda in that he has other jobs?_

_Tony: Kinda in that he’s not a he._

_Steve: so, does they have preferred pronouns?_

_Tony: he’s an AI, not a human_

_Steve: You need to start from the beginning._

* * *

“WILL YOU JUST GUARD MY LEFT,” MJ howled as she frantically punched buttons on the Xbox controller.

“I am,” Steve said, laughing at the same time. “You just can’t tell right from left!”

“He’s not wrong, babe,” Peter said from his place next to her, where he was supposedly ensconced in his English essay but hadn’t stopped making commentary on the game.

“Shut it,” she huffed at her boyfriend and Steve caught Nat’s eye from across the room and grinned. They were heading into Memorial Day weekend and the whole house was ready for a bit of a break. The annual picnic was cancelled, however, due to thunderstorms rolling through the area all weekend, and MJ had been particularly crabby about it.

So Steve had simply fired up the Xbox and loaded one of the first _Call of Duty_ games and handed her a controller.

Because she couldn’t control the weather, and she couldn’t make her parents come back from the dead, and she couldn’t make Peter actually tell her he loves her instead of dancing around the words… but Steve knew she could kill some fictional bad guys. And sometimes, that’s all you needed to do.

“Whatcha writing, Spiderkid?” Nat asked.

“An essay on class privilege in _The Great Gatsby_ ,” Peter said with an eyeroll that Steve could hear. “I hate English essays, they’re useless.”

“Yeah, well, remember what Tony told you,” MJ said.

Steve tried hard not to pause the game and give his full attention to Peter. _You talked to Tony? What about? What did he say? Did he mention a rooftop? Could I possibly be acting more like a cast member of_ Saved by the Bell _right now?_

Instead, he remained silent and let the conversation continue between the two teens.

“If I really want to be a good engineer, I have to understand how humans work just as much as how physics does,” Peter dutifully repeated. “The ability to critically think about complex subjects is what will set me apart from my peers.”

“If you could say it less like a whiny ass next time, that would be great, but yes,” MJ affirmed and Peter snorted. Steve saw her make a kissy face, which made Peter laugh, and made Steve so achingly lonely there wasn’t a word in English for it. How pathetic was it that he was jealous of two teenagers?

No more pathetic than being jealous of your unconscious brother.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Steve Rogers_

_Steve: You said this is encrypted software right?_

_Tony: Yes._

_Steve: Good, because when I kill Pietro, they can’t hack this and use this message as premeditation?_

_Tony: what did he do now?_

_Steve: Nat got him a job at the shop this summer and he had his first shift today with Clint._

_Tony: he’s the deaf guy? With all the awards?_

_Steve: Yeah, Nat poached him from this shop in Hoboken. He’s really good at the black and white ones and we’re just trying to get Pietro exposure to a lot of different jobs._

_Tony: great idea. I know i’ve known the kid for about seven seconds, but he’s not on his way to columbia._

_Steve: he’s barely on his way to graduation. I honestly think it’s just that nothing keeps his interest long enough to focus on it._

_Tony: yeah, i get that. I went on adderall at 14 and it helped for a while_

_Steve: when did it stop helping?_

_Tony: when I started snorting it at parties, but that’s a story for another time_

_Steve:_

_Steve: anyway, pietro decided to experiment with the gun a little and tattooed a bright blue line across his tip._

_Tony: just a blue line?_

_Steve: yup. Just a bright blue line, right across the tip._

_Tony: tbh, steviepoo, he’s done worse in the seven seconds i’ve known him. Just a line on the tip of his finger. Why the murder threats now?_

_Steve: finger? No, tony, he tattooed the tip of his dick._

_Tony:_

_Steve: exactly._

_Tony: parenthood sounds super fun_

* * *

“Tony! What a nice surprise!”

To anyone else, Carol’s voice would just sound pleasantly excited to see someone who was quickly becoming a staple around the house.

To Steve, he knew she found it _interesting_ that Tony dropped by unannounced, and _even more interesting_ that he was doing it when no one was home but Steve and Carol, because every other time he’d “randomly dropped by” in recent days, it had been under the auspices of tutoring MJ or helping Pietro with his pre-calculus homework.

And, because Steve had told Tony via text only one hour previous that he and Carol were the only ones home, Tony knew they were alone. Which marked the first time they’d be together and not surrounded by teenagers since they'd been on the roof.

“I was dropping some clearance paperwork off at Peter’s house for May to sign and I thought I’d bring some ice cream by,” Tony replied as he brandished a plain brown paper bag.

“Is that Van Leeuwen’s?” Carol asked with a note of reverence in her voice.

“I got Earl Grey Tea, and Salted Caramel, and they had a special peanut butter one, and then Mint Chip, and a few others,” Tony replied, placing the bag on the table. Carol dug in enthusiastically.

“You got Pistachio,” Steve said, his mouth twisting into a smile.

“It’s your favorite,” Tony said softly and Steve let his eyes meet Tony’s across the kitchen. A blush dusted Tony’s cheeks and he shuffled his feet a little before clapping his hands. “I mean, it’s fucking gross and I have no idea why they even bother to have it since you have to be the only person under the age of 90 who eats it.”

“Listen, Stark, Rogers has been old since we were freshman,” Carol said, as she produced spoons and bowls and the three began to dig into the various flavors.

“Oh yeah?” Tony grinned and Steve groaned.

“She talks like I showed up with cardigans and slippers,” Steve rolled his eyes.

“You love sweaters, Rogers,” Carol pointed her spoon at him. “That fisherman one with the holes, the brown one with the professor patches -”

“I get chilly in the winter,” Steve protested loudly.

“How?” Tony laughed. “You are massive. You can probably power Lower Manhattan just on your shoulder to hip ratio.”

“He has a thing for being a little sweaty,” Carol wiggled her eyebrows.

“Carol Anne,” Steve groaned. “We slept together twice. You do not get to make categorical statements about -”

“Three times,” Carol corrected.

“No-”

“Bathroom in that place in the Bowery.”

“Ohhhhhh.” Steve’s ears turned pink. “Three.”

Carol cackled triumphantly and Tony looked back and forth between the two the way someone would watch a tennis match.

“So you guys go way back?” There was something in Tony’s voice that Steve couldn’t place. They’d been texting a lot since that night on the roof, but they hadn’t exactly followed up on most of the insights of that night. Steve was doing a great job on his Remember Who Tony Belongs To mission…

… or he had until the man showed up with his favorite ice cream, a fact Steve had mentioned in passing maybe _once_.

“First day of freshman orientation,” Carol responded. “BA has this program to put freshmen into pods for the first month so they don’t feel so alone.”

“Ours was us, a girl from South Africa named Leigh Anne, a guy from Texas,” Steve snapped his fingers a few times, “what was his name?”

“All I remember is that he wore that horrible bolo tie to the first Chi Omega formal,” Carol replied.

“So his name is now obviously Bolo Tie for any stories moving forward,” Tony contributed.

“And then Kathryn, who was from Red Hook-”

“I adore how no one is from Brooklyn, everyone is from a neighborhood,” Carol interrupted Tony. “It’s actually one of my favorite quirks.”

“I always tell people I’m from Manhattan,” Tony replied, taking a spoonful of Mint Chip, “but I was raised mostly between the Upper East Side brownstone, the mansion in Malibu, or the one in the Hudson Valley, and I’m just realizing how ridiculous that sounds to two social workers.”

Carol laughed. “Tony, my family’s money is as old as New York State. The Danvers Foundation gives out $50 million annually, and I learned how to walk with books on my head before I learned how to tie my shoes. You’re safe here.”

“And you know the Drysdales,” Steve said quietly.

“How do you two-” Tony replied, and then stopped himself.

“Go on, Tony,” Carol said gently.

“How do you two deal with that?” Tony blurted after a few beats. “How do you hold these worlds together?”

Both Steve and Carol were silent for a few seconds before Carol spoke. “My story is a lot different than Steve’s, because my family has always taken social responsibility as part of the wealth thing. Just like I grew up learning how to work a room at a political function, I grew up understanding how to use my privilege to make the world better for others. Is it perfect? No. Do I feel crushingly guilty a lot? Yes. Will me giving everything away and taking a vow of poverty help anyone? No. So I just channel my angst into this place.”

“I’m still figuring that all out,” Steve said quietly.

“But anyway,” Carol said, a little loudly, and Steve knew she was protecting him from a larger conversation about Ransom that Steve was not interested in having. “We met in the pod and hit it off. I was decidedly straight then.”

“And I knew I was gay, but also found myself really into Carol.” Steve cleared his throat to banish the gathering tears.

“So we dated for, what, two months?” Carol said and Steve nodded. “And then I met Nat and realized that I was, in fact, not straight.”

Tony laughed loudly and grinned. “I was living with Pep’s family when I first realized that I was at least as into guys as I was into girls, and it’s kinda spiraled from there. Pan, I guess, is how I describe myself now.”

“Decidedly lesbian,” Carol pointed to herself. “And gay with exceptions,” she pointed to Steve.

Steve felt himself blush again, but forced a grin. “I’m just saying that if Emily Blunt ever found herself divorced and lonely, I’d be happy to help.”

“Oh, what a sacrifice,” Tony replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm and a smirk painted across his face.

“Listen, I’m a team player,” Steve grinned back. The conversation moved on at that point to more celebrity crushes and then stories about past residents and then Tony’s phone rang.

“Oh, it’s Pep!”

Steve loved how Tony’s entire face lit up at the mention of his best friend. It was clear the love between the two of them was deep and mutual and Steve was so glad Tony had people like that in his life.

Besides Ransom.

Because of course Ransom would be the same.

Of course.

“Hey Pepperoni,” Tony called. “I got you on speaker, because I’m in the middle of a massive ice cream feast with Carol and Steve.”

 _“Well, heaven forbid I interrupt that,”_ the woman laughed. _“I’m on hold with Kickstarter on Zoom and they said they still don’t have the proof of concept?”_

Tony glanced at Steve and Carol. “Since Pep’s on bedrest, she’s helping us with paperwork.”

“Because someone needs to help Darcy, poor girl is running seven companies and your life,” Pepper responded.

“Darcy’s his PA,” Steve said to Carol who rolled her eyes.

“I know, I’ve met her about seven times. You two are idiots sometimes, not even noticing when other people are in the room.”

Steve blushed slightly at Carol’s implication, but it seemed Tony hadn’t heard her.

“Oh, yeah, Pep, I left that in the car,” Tony replied. “I’ll leave you here with Carol and Steve. Please tell them how much you adore me.”

“ _I am so skilled at lying,”_ Pepper replied, and Steve could hear the smile in her voice. _“Tony, don’t forget to-”_

“He’s gone, Ms. Potts,” Steve interrupted.

“ _Pepper,”_ she corrected. _“For the fourteenth time, Pepper. And good, because I wanted to thank you guys for making sure he didn’t spend his birthday alone.”_

Steve and Carol shot looks at each other and Carol mouthed _‘birthday?’_

Pepper continued. _“I usually come out for his birthday, or he and I take a trip somewhere, but this year, with the Kickstarter launching next week and me about ready to pop, I was worried he’d be completely alone.”_

“So you’ve met Ransom, then? If you were out here to celebrate his birthday?” Steve said.

Pepper snorted _. “Tony would never let me meet him. I haven’t been shy about how I feel about them together.”_

This surprised Steve, and must have also surprised Carol, because her eyebrows hit her hairline. “You don’t like them?”

_“Forgive me for speaking out of turn about your brother, but let’s blame pregnancy hormones. Your brother -”_

“Virginia!” Tony called loudly as he entered the room again. “I think we save those kind of feelings for the rehearsal dinner toasts, don’t you?”

There was silence on the other end of the phone and if Steve didn’t know better, Pepper was about to say something Tony didn’t want her to say.

“I’m scanning them in right now,” Tony said, scooping his phone from off the table and taking some photos of the documents.

 _“Got ‘em,”_ Pepper said a beat later. _“I’ll leave you to your ice cream feast! Happy Birthday, again, Tones.”_

“It’s your birthday?” Carol said quietly after Tony terminated the call.

“It’s not a big deal,” Tony waved them off.

Every social work instinct in Steve’s body told him to leave it alone, that Tony’s tone and his body language was communicating that it was a huge deal that he was choosing to celebrate his birthday with them, but that it was not something on the table for discussion.

Every friend instinct - because that’s what they were, right? - told him to press and prod and make Tony open up.

Thank fuck for his training.

“Well, happy birthday, pal,” Steve said. “Thanks for celebrating it with us.”

Tony grinned shyly. “Best way I coulda spent it.”

And if that just didn’t break Steve’s heart in four different ways.

* * *

“Sir, you have an incoming text from Steve Rogers,” Jarvis called out into the workshop.

“Read it, please.”

“Ahem,” Jarvis metaphorically cleared his throat, which was something Human Jarvis had done whenever he was about to read something and Tony programmed it into AI Jarvis during a particularly drunken walk down memory lane. He didn’t regret it. “Tony, I know you were at the hospital this morning, but we were wondering what you’re doing right now? The kids talked Bucky into grilling burgers and he’s doing the thing where he puts the cheese in the middle and it all melts out. You free?”

Tony considered the offer. He looked at the various holograms and sketches strewn in front of him and then gave a glance over to the prototype frame that he’d just finished welding. “J, what day is it?”

“It’s Saturday, June 13th, Sir, and it is 5:42 PM. You have been working since yesterday at 12pm, so if you are to take Mr. Rogers up on his invitation, can I suggest you shower prior to leaving the apartment?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

As usual a pang rang across his chest at the fact that his AI mothered him more than his actual mother ever did, and he ignored it, just like he always did.

“Tell him I’ll be there,” Tony continued. “And ask if they need me to stop and bring anything.”

A few moments later, Jarvis informed him that Steve had replied to just bring himself.

“Well, conveniently for Mr. Rogers and co, I bring myself wherever I go.”

A quick shower, a potentially elongated grooming process because there would be selfies and not because he always wanted to look his best for Steve, and a hop in an Uber later, Tony was standing on the front porch of Koinonia House and mystified by the silence.

The house was never silent.

 _Ever_.

His phone buzzed.

_Steve: Door’s open, we’re all out back. Come on through the kitchen._

“Odd,” Tony muttered to himself. “Why don’t they just tell me to use the gate?” But he did as he was asked. One time he’d deviated from instructions and accidentally walked in on a tense conversation between Wanda and Nat that was clearly private and disciplinary.

He opened the door and stepped into the hallway, only to have a banner fall down from the top of the stairs that read Happy Borniversary, Stark! While all the house residents - and a few extra people - jumped out from behind things and screamed and threw confetti at him and blew noisemakers.

He felt tears rush to his eyes and he blinked them away quickly. “What the hell is all this?”

“Do you honestly think we’d let your birthday only be celebrated by a few pints of ice cream?” Carol called.

Bucky appeared at his side and threw an arm around his shoulder. “‘Sides, wasn’t fair to the rest of us and Stevie told me they didn’t even sing.”

“There does not need to be singing,” Tony protested.

“There always needs to be singing,” Wanda said from the stairs.

He was soon lost in a sea of hugs and some introductions. Peter’s Aunt May brought her boyfriend, and Wanda had invited a few friends from school. Nat had invited the whole staff of her shop, so Clint was there with his wife, Laura, along with two people he hadn’t met - Scott and Hope. Bucky’s friend-with-benefits-do-not-call-him-a-boyfriend Sam was there as well, and Tony was happy to see someone so clearly enamoured with Bucky in his life.

He was pulled into the kitchen by an excited Peter, who showed off all the food they were making, while Bucky headed to the back porch to start on the burgers. (“Oh, so that wasn’t a lie?” “Stark, I do not lie about burgers.”)

Tony had no idea how many hours went by as they danced in the backyard, and played an elaborate game of Taboo, and drank far too much lemonade (spiked and non), and ate their weight in party foods, but it was around ten the first time he checked his watch.

Most everyone had dispersed and it was just Tony, Bucky, Steve, Carol, and Nat on the patio furniture. Bucky had Ray LaMontangue playing through the speakers and a rousing - and exceptionally filthy - round of Cards Against Humanity had just finished. Tony looked around the circle and cleared his throat.

“Thanks, guys, you didn’t have to, and I don’t… Anyway, thanks.”

Nat gave him an enigmatic smile and a nod of her head, Carol beamed, Bucky winked, and Steve…

Steve just looked at him like he could see right through Tony.

“We don’t forget to celebrate family in this house,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry that hasn’t been your experience in other parts of your life.”

The simplicity of the statement took Tony’s breath.

“Okay, Social Worker Stevie,” Bucky snorted, “you’re off the clock.”

Steve rolled his eyes and took another sip of his beer. Tony loved how much Nat and Bucky reminded Carol and Steve to not “social work” them during friend conversations. He was about to add to Bucky’s chastisement when his phone rang.

“Shit, it’s Rhodey,” Tony fumbled and hit ‘answer’.

_“Tones, it’s happening, we’re on our way to the hospital, she’s in labor, Bean is coming.”_

Tony looked at the group, who were all staring at him expectantly. “Pep’s in labor!” To Rhodey he said, “okay, I need to call the pilot and then I’ll be out there as soon as I can be. Oh, shit, I need to call an Uber, too, anyway, how is she?”

 _“She’s in labor, Tony,”_ Rhodey replied and Tony could hear the eyeroll.

“I meant, are her vitals okay, is everything -”

_“Tony, her water broke about four minutes ago and she refused to get in the car until I called you, so -”_

“Go, I’ll see you there soon.” Tony hung up the phone and grinned. “She’s coming! Bean is coming! I gotta get to California, I gotta… oh no.”

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked.

“I can’t go,” Tony shook his head. “We have a schedule, I can’t leave Ransom, I -”

“I’ll take over your shifts at the hospital,” Carol said quickly. “I can read him Harry Potter or something.”

“Are you sure? I just - “

Steve got up from his chair and signaled to Tony to follow him. “I’ll drive you to the airport. You gotta go be with your family, Tony. Ransom, I’m sure, would agree.”

Ransom can’t remember Pepper’s name or that she’s pregnant, but I’m glad the fictional version of him that I’ve crafted is strong enough to convince you otherwise. “Are you sure? The SI plane is Teterboro, that’s a long drive, and -”

“Then we’ve got time for you to regulate your breathing again before you get on a plane,” Steve responded and told everyone else he’d be back in a few hours.

* * *

_WhatsApp: TS & SR_

_Tony: Lamest name for our chat, but whatever. Here, meet Emily Elizabeth Rhodes. 7lbs, 9oz, and 20 inches long. She and Mama are doing great, but Pep swears she’s never letting Rhodey touch her again._

_Steve: According to Winnie, that’s not uncommon._

_Tony: I mean, women are something the fuck else._

_Steve: no disagreement from me_

_Tony: Oh, here’s a video I took._

When Bucky came into the room about ten minutes later, Steve was staring at the phone with tears in his eyes.

“Stevie, what’s wrong?”

Steve just handed the phone to Bucky and pressed play.

_“Emily, I want you to say hi to your Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve, this is Emily Elizabeth and she’s very ready for you to teach her all about how to be good to people and about traveling the world and about wood carvings and everything else you’re amazing at. Aren’t you, Emmybean? She told me she is, sorry she’s sleeping now, but she’s ready Steve. I hope you are, too.”_

Bucky looked back at Steve and sighed. “You’re her uncle because of -”

“I know. But for about ten minutes, I got to daydream that I was closer than that. I love him so much, Buck,” Steve breathed out on tears. “So much.”

“Oh, buddy,” Bucky said and collapsed on the couch next to his best friend. “Wanna watch the video again?”

“Please.”

* * *

“And he just… drove me to the airport,” Tony said, about two days later while he was holding his goddaughter and Pepper and Rhodey were taking brief naps.

Emily Elizabeth Rhodes yawned a little and blinked up at him.

“I know, Emmybean, _I know,_ ” Tony replied. “I’m so in love with him that I can’t see straight, but I’m fake engaged to his brother, who I actually kinda hate now the more I think about it and it’s all just a really big mess.”

“I think soap operas are more of a late elementary school curriculum,” Pepper said from the doorway.

Tony looked up. “Emmybean is advanced for her age.”

“Of course,” Pepper said, crossing the room to kiss her daughter’s head. “Is she fussy? It’s almost time for her to eat.”

“A little,” Tony admitted, “but it’s not bad.”

“You know you can just tell him,” Pepper said quietly.

“I know.”

“And you won’t because?”

“I know he won’t have me,” Tony said. “He’s.. him and I’m me.”

“Exactly, Tony,” she whispered back, her voice heavy with emotion, and her gaze piercing. “Exactly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next Friday when Bucky reaches the end of his patience and the gang celebrates Steve's birthday.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky reaches the end of his rope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks to Marie for the beta and to Jeh for some specific cheering and to each and every one of you who has left a comment, a kudo, a Discord DM, a note in a server - I'm baffled and absolutely delighted that you're enjoying this world and I'm grateful that you're spending your very precious time in it.

* * *

“Tony,” Darcy called from the elevator. “I brought pho.”

“Sir has his headphones in, Ms Lewis,” Jarvis replied.

Darcy huffed and made her way through the lab portion of Tony’s spacious warehouse floor and into the apartment bit. “Can you let him know I’m in the kitchen and expect him to either come eat with me or tell me who else to give this pho to because it is criminal to waste Mrs. Nuygen’s Hanoi-style pho which I specifically got because I know it’s his favorite -”

“Jarvis patches you into my headphones the minute you enter and you know it,” Tony said from behind her.

Darcy grinned at him as she began setting out the bowls.

“I’m not hungry,” Tony protested.

“I don’t give a shit,” Darcy responded. “I promised Pepper I would physically see you eat and I am significantly more terrified of her than I am of you.”

“I sign your checks!”

“We have direct deposit and I don’t think you’ve held a checkbook in your life.”

“You’re a pain in my ass, Lewis,” Tony retorted with a smirk.

“Well, since you ain’t getting laid anymore, someone has to be,” she sassed and then slammed her hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re not,” Tony said, pursing his lips and fiddling with his chopsticks. “I know you hated him. You weren’t shy.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want him in a coma,” Darcy replied, “I just wanted him to treat you with the respect you deserve.”

Tony barked out a laugh and took a bite of his pho. “Ignoring that.”

“You always do,” Darcy responded.

They were quiet for a few minutes while they slurped until Darcy piped up again. “You gonna finally tell me who I’ve been doing all these weird errands for? I’d also love an explanation about the house you keep disappearing to and why I have to track you down there for signatures these days.”

She caught that he temporarily froze and tucked that piece of information away. He’d been cagey about Ransom’s brother and the house he kept spending time at and the deliveries he had her arrange for various people whose names meant nothing to her, but clearly meant a lot to him.

When she’d applied to be an administrative assistant at a tech startup, she’d had no idea she’d be working for Tony Stark. She nearly tripped over her dropped jaw when he called for the interview and explained that he needed a personal assistant who would work for SI, technically, but really work for him and he straddled two worlds.

_“If this is all so secret, why are you trusting me so quickly?”_

_He was quiet on the phone for a few minutes. “Pepper told me to. The woman you talked to yesterday who said she was my assistant? She’s not, she’s my best friend, and she helps me make a lot of my personnel decisions for the company. She’s better at peopling than I am. I’m a nightmare to work with, I’m told, so you should know that up front. I work really odd hours and I party too much and you’ll probably have to drag me out of various hotels around the city to remind me that I have a board meeting and you’ll have to do all the paperwork for the board meetings because I’ll forget. Oh, and you’ll also have to make sure I have clean clothes for those meetings because I also forget that suits are required to those and I’m getting tired of being yelled at by old white men. So you’ll have to buy me some ties that make me look like a Republican.”_

_“So if I want the real truth, I should call Pepper back,” Darcy said slowly._

_“No, I’m telling you the truth,” Tony replied._

_But Darcy had a feeling he was telling her all the worst things to scare her off, and that wasn’t truth, that was pain._

She’d hung up with Tony that day and called Pepper immediately, who confirmed her suspicions.

_“Ms. Lewis,” Pepper said, with a warm tone in her voice. “I think you’ll be perfect for him.”_

_“It sounds like the job might kill me,” Darcy said._

_“It might,” Pepper confessed. “But one of the secrets to Tony is that he’s basically an overeager puppy who’s been abused its whole life. Once you get him to trust you, the snarls disappear and he just cuddles into you. Oh, and he always apologizes in super extravagant gifts. My husband and I don’t have children, but I have three trust funds set up for future children because of times he made me angry.”_

_“Those are big apologies,” Darcy laughed._

_“Keep your Amazon wish list fully stocked, Ms. Lewis,” Pepper advised. “You’ll go through it quickly.”_

_“Darcy,” she corrected. “Because I’m taking the job.”_

_“Glad to have you as part of the Tony Stark Protection Squad, Darcy.”_

_“Oh, I’m definitely making us t-shirts.”_

In the three years she’d worked for him, Darcy had come to view him as the brother she’d never had - exasperating and endearing in equal measures. She hated Ransom and anything else to do with Tony’s “public” life, but she’d done her job and usually kept her mouth shut. These new people, however…

Tony was happier when he talked about them, or when he came from the mysterious house. His creativity was snapping even faster than usual and he’d had to construct a secondary drive for Jarvis the week before to store the new data. Whoever they all were, they were good for him.

Tony scrunched his nose at her and sighed. “So, it all started when I told the hospital that Ransom and I were engaged.”

Darcy nodded. She’d already been made privy to that since she had to retroactively construct a few actual conversations between them in case the family questioned anything. All of Tony and Ransom’s previous communication had clearly been booty calls or phone sex.

“And I met his twin.”

“That’s news,” Darcy said, trying hard to keep a straight face.

“To us all, Darce, to us all,” Tony sighed and the story started spilling out. She heard all about the first night (“Carol is so scary in that jacket when you don’t know her, but really she’s so cool, I think you’d really like her”) and about Bucky and Steve’s friendship (“It feels like what Rhodey and I had before he got stationed at Edwards. I mean, he and I are still close, of course, he’s my Rhodeybear, but…” “I know, Tony.”). She learned exactly who Peter Parker was, why Tony was listening to My Favorite Murder more than ever, why he’d stayed up all night a few months back to re-learn organic chemistry. The answer to the last one was that a girl named Val was stressed about her o-chem final and Tony offered to tutor her, but he’d never actually taken it.

Most of all, Darcy figured out pretty quickly that Tony was ass backwards, head over heels, stuff of legends level in love with Steve Rogers Drysdale.

And that he had no intention of doing anything about it.

“You’re really not -”

“Medusa, I get this from Pepper every single time I talk to her. I don’t need it from you, too.”

Darcy licked her lips. That was the name he used when she was about to step over a boundary and be reminded that while he loved her, he still employed her. “Got it, Boss. I’ll get out of here and finish the background checks on Peter and May so that you can have her sign all the paperwork at the party tomorrow. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

Tony nodded. “That’ll be all, Ms. Lewis.”

As soon as she was in the elevator, she whipped out her phone.

_WhatsApp: Pepper Rhodes_

_Darcy: I know about Steve_

_Pepper: Oh, thank god, I’ve been dying to tell you. Please go to the party tomorrow and get me all the gossip. I need to know what he really looks like._

_Darcy: He’s ransom’s twin? You’ve seen ransom._

_Pepper: Tony says there’s a beard._

_Darcy: I’m on my way._

* * *

“And you do this every year?” Tony stared at the mounds of food that covered the kitchen table at the House.

“Yup,” Nat affirmed. “Can you get the smoked paprika from the cupboard?”

Tony moved to comply and she continued.

“As you know from Ransom, Steve’s birthday is July 4th. He hates celebrating it, so he and Bucky and Carol started a tradition the first year they were all down here that they’d throw a party for America.” Nat took the bottle from Tony and shook it twice into the simmering pot. “He agreed to a small cake, but no singing, and it kinda grew from there.”

“Why doesn’t he want to celebrate his birthday?” As soon as the question was out of Tony’s mouth, he realized he knew the answer.

Nat turned and quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah, I realized that was stupid as soon as it was out of my mouth,” Tony grumbled and Nat smirked.

Because why would Steve want to celebrate a day that marked him and Ransom’s birthday when he had no relationship with Ransom. Ransom, of course, had no such compunction. Last year, he’d thrown a giant party at 1 Oak in Chelsea Market. Tony only had a few vague memories of that night and the day after, but they’d made Page Six, so it must have been a rager.

Tony winced. _Yet another reminder that this is not my world._

Thankfully, Nat was too busy putting the salsa on a low boil to simmer for the next while. She’d told him it would let the flavors develop a little and he’d just nodded, like he had any idea what that meant. Before he met all these people, his diet had been whatever was served at parties and whatever delivered to the Navy Yard with the occasional box of Kraft Mac and Cheese thrown in.

“How can I help?”

“We’re going to keep all the food in here for a while longer since it’s so goddamn hot out there,” Nat replied. “But if you could go and check on the fans? Bucky was nervous about breakers overloading?”

“For fucks sake,” Tony muttered. “I told Peter to talk to me before he rigged anything up.”

“Well, he got a little excited this morning before you got here, so I’d go check,” Nat laughed. “I think he wanted to impress you.”

“Why?”

“You’re asking all sorts of stupid questions today, Stark,” was Nat’s only reply.

Lost in thought about why Peter would want to impress him and who he wanted to impress when he was Peter’s age, he wandered outside and found the boy creating some sort of elaborate fan/water sprayer system.

“Woah, Bill Nye, let’s calm it down with water near plugs,” Tony called.

“They’re grounded, I double checked,” Peter called back.

“Please tell his fool ass to stop, Tony,” MJ retorted from the back fence, where she was hanging bunting in red, white, and blue.

“Are you a certified electrician, Mr. Parker?” Tony queried as he drew closer.

“No,” Peter said, “but I-”

“I swear to God if you finish that with ‘I watched some YouTube videos I’ll electrocute you with my rage,” Tony interrupted and Peter blushed. “Luckily for you, I was bored when I was 19 and am, in fact, a certified electrician.”

“No shit?” MJ called.

“Pay my union dues and everything,” Tony replied as he took a look at Peter’s contraption. “Okay, so I get the vision, but we gotta move that stanchion closer to the breaker.”

About an hour later, sweaty but satisfied, Tony and Peter had managed to create a system of fans that would gently mist water throughout the spacious backyard. Bucky and Wanda had both pitched in at one point before getting called away to other tasks, and the famous Val had shown up as well. Tony had learned that the electricity had been run through the garden a few summers back when Val decided to throw a World Cup viewing party and invited far too many people for the living room’s capacity.

“So you just wired the backyard?” Tony looked incredulously over at Bucky, who shrugged.

“I had a client who could use work and we thought it would come in handy. Makes the giant lip sync party we throw at Halloween a lot easier.”

“The giant lip sync party?”

Val laughed. “Oh, you gotta drag Ransom this year. Steve and Bucky dress up as the Hayes sisters from _White Christmas_ every year and do the routine. It’s a riot.”

Bucky smirked. “Stevie’s got good legs for dresses, we’ve found.”

And Tony lost the power of speech for a few moments.

He’d learned that Val had been to sixteen foster homes before she’d landed at Koinonia and she thought of the place as a miracle. He’d gotten a long and confusing but entertaining story about how MJ asked Peter out for the first time and was secretly delighted at how awkward the boy was and how much she seemed to love it. He’d met the other two residents who were technically residing at Koinonia House but who were slowly transitioning out of it - Scott and Eric - and found even more elements of the foster care system to be simultaneously fascinated and infuriated by.

Wanda had shared stories from last year’s party, explaining it was the first 4th of July she and Pietro had been to where no one blacked out and Tony had to keep the wince off his face when he realized he probably would have been one of those people. He hoped he wouldn’t have if there were children around but…

But one of the things he’d learned in the two months that he’d been doing life with this group was that he’d never really observed things like that before. He was meticulous at wires and coding and how things worked, but he’d never really given much thought to how people did. So if he had walked into a party when he was 22 and there had been young teenagers there, he may not have paid much attention. He’d started going to parties like that at 12, after all, so what was so weird about it?

That was the other thing he’d learned. He’d known his life wasn’t ‘normal’, but he thought that was because of his brain. Sure, going to college at 14 was weird, but it hadn’t occurred to him that most 10-year-olds couldn’t taste the difference between the good scotch and the cheap stuff. He’d never paid those kinds of details much attention until he was surrounded by people who said things like “developmentally appropriate” and “adolescence is the time to make low stakes mistakes”.

All of his mistakes had been high stakes. Howard had made sure he knew that. If his coding was off, people died. If his wiring was off, people died. If he didn’t help deliver the projects on time, people died.

He’d said that at one point in passing to Steve, who’d gotten that look on his face that said he violently disapproved.

_“That’s a lot of pressure on someone who chose that life, Tony, much less for a 10-year-old who was born into it.”_

_Tony waved him off. “It’s not a big deal, really. I know now that it was bullshit.”_

_“I wish you did, actually,” Steve said. “Because if you did, you’d understand that your reaction to that night in the palace was the true one, the one that came from you, and I think you’d chase it harder.”_

_“What the fuck does that mean?” Tony snapped. “I didn’t tell you about that to have you throw it back in my face.”_

_“I’ll drop it,” Steve replied, but his words niggled at Tony for a long time after._

After the second test of the fans to make sure they worked, Tony collapsed into one of the Adirondack chairs around the fire pit. He’d been told it would be used to roast s’mores after the sun went down and had replied that he wasn’t sure they could crunch anymore American party stereotypes into one party. Bucky had sassed back that Tony could feel free to start the beer pong competition after the kids went to bed, which Tony took as permission to do just that.

He stayed in that chair for a while as people gathered and dropped off food and he saw Nat and Carol greet people. He saw Steve scoop up small children and throw them on his shoulders - which made his completely non-existent ‘I want kids’ hormones flare a bit - and heard laughter and music start to fill the air.

He got a text from Darcy that she was going to stop by for a little bit and he had a sinking feeling she was doing recon for Pepper. Before he could get too nervous about the two of them in cahoots about his love drama, he spotted May and Peter heading over to him.

“We have the papers,” May called in way of a greeting. “I just can’t believe you were able to do this so fast!”

Tony waved his hand. “I build them all their fanciest toys and we don’t charge them nearly as much for them as we could. I’m owed about nine thousand favors, so happy to spend seven thousand of them on Peter.”

“Do you know what day we’re going yet, Mr. Stark?”

“It’s Tony or you’re not getting on the jet,” Tony responded and accepted the manilla folder from May. He took out his phone, scanned all the pages quickly, and handed it back to her. “You keep the originals.”

“Great,” May accepted it back and then said she was going to walk back home and put the file somewhere safe.

Peter also wandered off at that point, presumably to find MJ, and Tony decided to close his eyes for a second. Suddenly, a hand was resting on his arm and he was startled to see Steve standing over him.

“Whut?” Why was his voice scratchy?

Steve smiled. “You’ve been snoring over here for about twenty minutes and I wasn’t sure if you wanted to transfer to a bed.”

“I don’t snore.”

Steve snorted. “Sure, I’ll just assume it was your subconscious jackhammer.”

Tony rolled his eyes and sat up a little in the chair. “The heat, Steven. It was the heat.”

“Oh, because it absolutely wasn’t the fact that you told Jackie at the hospital that you just emerged from a three day lab binge and that you were sorry you hadn’t been to see Ransom. Definitely wasn’t that.” Steve’s eyes twinkled as he settled in the seat next to Tony.

Tony groaned. _I don’t actually want to see him anymore, because I don’t actually like him anymore, because I actually like you a whole heck of a lot, and my workshop is the best place to hide._ “Fuck, I need to get over there.”

“Nah,” Steve said. “It’s just that you and I are the only ones who come now.”

Tony felt his brow furrow. “I thought Percy and Wallace and Anastasia were still doing shifts.”

Steve looked confused. “They each came once, Tony, and only when you were there.”

“So none of Ransom’s friends have been coming?”

Steve shook his head. “Bucky offered to start going over to sit with him so he wasn’t alone for such long stretches -”

“I’ll set alarms,” Tony interrupted. “I thought he was covered, I’ll just set some alarms, and the projects can wait and I’ll tell Bruce and-”

“Tony.” Steve's voice cut through his increasingly babbling response and Tony felt the weight of Steve’s hand on his arm once again. “This is shitty for everyone and you still have projects to do. I’m not worried about you seeing Ransom, I’m worried about you getting sleep.”

“I only need a few hours,” Tony grumbled. “I’m fine.”

“I’m going to ban that word from your vocabulary,” Steve laughed, “I swear. Anyway, do you want to go finish your nap?”

Tony shook his head. “I’m awake now. And I think Nat’s salsa is calling my name.”

* * *

If Steve had to put into words what his heart did at the sight of Tony sleeping in the chair, slightly curled into the shade, and looking so peaceful, he wasn’t sure he could do it. He was loath to wake up someone who so obviously needed sleep, but he was concerned about Tony waking up to the chaos that was soon going to engulf the back yard as more and more people showed up.

After Tony ambled off in search of Nat’s salsa, Steve cast a glance around the yard to see where he was needed. He saw Bucky putting up the stakes for the horseshoe game and headed that way.

“You trying to show off your mediocre ass?” Steve said as he approached and Bucky snorted. “There are easier ways to hammer stakes into the grounds.”

“Okay, Buffy, if you’re the stake expert you go ahead,” Bucky retorted, standing up and blowing his errant hair out of his face. “God, it’s fucking hot.”

“It’s New York in July, Buck.”

“Well, thank God you reminded me, I thought we were in Buenos Aires.”

“Hey,” Steve said, his tone softer. “Why are you crabby?”

Bucky opened his mouth and closed it again, and Steve got a sinking feeling that Bucky was keeping something from him. He didn’t like when Bucky kept things from him.

“Sorry, pal,” Bucky sighed at one point. “I just got a lot on my mind.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

Bucky smiled, but it was weak and didn’t meet his eyes. Steve’s BFF radar went off.

“Seriously, Buck, whatever is bothering you, we can fix it together. Is it one of the kids?”

“No,” Bucky said quickly. “No. I mean, I’m worried that Val started smoking again, and I’m not looking forward to reminding Scott that he has to be out of his room by the end of the summer if he wants to establish residency in Delaware, and Pietro is…. well, Pietro, but no. This is my own shit.”

“Then why -”

“Because it’s also someone else’s shit,” Bucky said. “And I don’t get to tell their story.”

Steve’s mind raced to who else Bucky would keep secrets for who wasn’t him, or Nat, or Carol. _Sam_ , he finally concluded. _Something must be going on with Sam._

“Are you okay that Sam is here?”

Bucky looked at him funny. “Of course I am, the guy’s fun and not bad to look at.”

_But he’s part of this problem,_ Steve replied internally. “Just checking.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Mother Hen Rogers, I’m good. Sorry was I snappy, but I promise I’m okay. Stand down.”

Steve made a face and Bucky laughed. “You are the worst, Stevie. You gonna cover the horseshoes? Because I think I see the Anderson’s and I want to make sure they know that Helga’s invited so we don't get a repeat of last year.”

“Fuck, yeah, go manage that,” Steve said. “I’ll finish here.”

* * *

A few hours later, Bucky was about ready to _crawl out of his skin._ The party itself was fine - he enjoyed most everyone who showed up, he liked making burgers, and he and Sam had stolen some time together in Bucky’s room while everyone was otherwise occupied with lighting sparklers.

Steve and Tony, however, were on his last nerve. He tried to get Steve to confess his feelings for Tony a few times over the past few weeks and had gotten told a unilateral ‘no’ every time.

_“Buck, he’s gonna marry my brother who I kinda want to get to know again. What good does it do for things to be awkward between us? No, it’s just a stupid crush, I’ll get over it.”_

Bucky wanted to scream that it was all fake and just smush them both together and make them kiss because the stress was killing him.

Instead, he decided to go to the source. Darkness had fallen and all the store bought fireworks had been set off when Bucky found Tony alone tossing horseshoes.

“I know, pal.”

* * *

Tony froze as Bucky kept talking.

“I know that you’re not engaged to Ransom and I know that you didn’t even know Steve existed until we were all in the hospital at the same time.”

“You what?”

Tony was sure the ground was about to swallow him whole. _Buckyknowsbuckyknowsitsalloverbuckyknows._ He wasn’t sure he was breathing that well.

“Pal, you gotta breathe.”

Well that confirms that.

Bucky pushed Tony down onto a nearby chair and waited for him to catch his breath. After a few gulps of air, Tony squeaked out, “what do you mean you know I’m not engaged.”

“Just that,” Bucky said simply. “I overheard you confessing to Ransom that first day.”

“And you’ve just sat on it?”

“Yup.”

“Jesus, Bucky, why?”

“Because I don’t think you ever actually wanted to be with Ransom,” Bucky said. “The yokel I’ve gotten to know over the past two months wouldn’t want anything to do with being an accessory in someone else’s narcissistic wet dream.”

“But why are you letting me lie to everyone?”

“Why are you letting _yourself_ lie to everyone?” Bucky countered.

When Tony was silent, Bucky continued. “I’m torn, I’ll be honest. Part of me wants you to tell Steve immediately, because that way, we can all just know, and you and Steve can start dating for real-”

“Steve doesn’t want to date me,” Tony interrupted. “He’s been clear.”

“You’re off limits to him because you’re Ransom’s,” Bucky corrected. “If you come clean-”

“If I come clean, all he’s going to hear is that I’m a liar and I use people just like Ransom does,” Tony snapped. “That’s not on the table.”

“So what?” Bucky asked. “You wait for Ransom to wake up and then the truth comes out anyway?”

“Why not?” Tony shrugged. “That way I get at least more time with…”

He trailed off, not sure what to say, until Bucky filled in the words.

“If this is the life you want to live all the time, Anthony,” Bucky said gently, “you’re allowed to. You can tell the board to fuck themselves about the weapons and the public appearances and you can hire a good CEO and you can tinker like the nerd you are. That life is open to you, you just have to decide you want it.”

Tony started laughing. “Do you hear yourself? That is not how anything works, James,” Tony caught himself from sneering. How dare he lay out my dreams like that, as though I can have them? As though it’s all that simple. How dare he? “I am a Stark and Starks make weapons. That is all the world wants from us. My projects are fun and help out some people on a small scale, but they’d never keep a multinational afloat and I have hundreds of thousands of jobs resting on my shoulders and those shoulders need to make weapons. So thanks for the therapy session, but I’m good here.”

Tony got up. “Just tell me if you’re going to tell him, okay? So I can say goodbye to the kids?”

“It’s your story to tell,” Bucky shook his head. “They won’t hear the truth from me.”

“Good.”

* * *

“Seat taken?”

Tony looked up to see Sam hovering above him. After the conversation with Bucky, Tony had retreated to the front porch, hoping to get a few moments to breathe.

“No,” Tony forced brightness into his voice. “Free country.”

“For white dudes,” Sam responded, as though it was an automatic reaction.

The shock was enough to force a laugh out of Tony, who then looked at Sam, who was smirking. “Find the lie, Stark.”

“You like to be a bit of a shit, don’t you?” Tony asked as Sam sat down on the chair next to Tony.

“I actually have it on my business card,” Sam replied. “Samuel Wilson, Personal Trainer, Security for Hire, Mechanic at Large, Professional Shit.”

“Rolls off the tongue,” Tony responded.

“Saw you run pretty quick from James back there, wanted to make sure you were okay,” Sam replied after a few moments of silence.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because they’re a lot,” Sam snorted. “All the feelings and vulnerability and constant self-reflection they do is necessary for their job, but fuck if it isn’t exhausting to be around sometimes.”

Tony laughed. He hadn’t really noticed it, but now that Sam said it...

“Don’t get me wrong,” Sam continued, “it’s also fucking beautiful to be around. The work they do with those kids is magic. I’ve been around for only two years and the system works. And I’m a better person too for learning how to ask myself questions and kinda picking everything up by osmosis and it’s one of the things that makes James sexy as hell, but sometimes I just wanna get a beer and bitch about the neighborhood.”

For some reason, Tony felt defensive about that last remark. “We talk plenty of shit about the neighborhood and they don’t talk about work all the time.”

Sam raised an eyebrow and took a long sip of the beer Tony hadn’t noticed he was holding. “We. Interesting. And no, man, you’re right. You just looked tired back there and I wanted you to know you’re not the only one. That’s all.”

Tony was quiet for a few seconds. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”

Sam was quiet and so Tony did what he did best - he filled the silence.

“I’m sure you know how I grew up, everyone always does, and I’m sure you have some opinions about how I live my life now,” Tony said, picking at his cuticles as he talked. “I seem to be one of those people who everyone has opinions about - a therapist told me once that I’m one of America’s favorite water cooler conversations. People feel sorry for me that I’m a functional orphan - I see all the blogs criticizing my mother and that if she wasn’t in Italy I would have turned out better. Or they think I’m wasting my potential, or the company’s money, or…”

“Man, I know all that,” Sam said after Tony trailed off a little. “You’re right, I live in the world and I know your face a lot better than I know you. But I think you’ll find that for as many people who give a fuck about any of that, there’s twice as many who don’t. And I will guarantee you all of the money in my bank account - which is a whopping $1,243.12 because I just Venmo’d James for the burgers - that no one in that yard gives a flying fuck who your family is. But there’s a lot of folks back there who seem to be quite a fan of you.”

Tony felt his cheeks warm a little and he cleared his throat. “Well, I like them a lot, too.”

“Then when you’re with them, Tony, that is all that matters. Try to remember that.”

Sam held the silence for a few minutes before he clapped Tony on the back. “Now, I need to tell you that watching James get a little sloppy on frozen rosé is one of the true pleasures of my life, and that’s about to go down, so you wanna join us out back again or do you need to head home?”

Tony laughed and followed Sam to the backyard.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Pepper Rhodes_

_Darcy: I will trade you three pieces of intel for three pictures of Em_

_Pepper: You got it._

_Darcy: 1, steve is illegally beautiful but I got there after dusk and it was hard to get pictures._

_Darcy: 2, the house is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. I talked to Val, one of the residents, for a long time - we commiserated over hair and humidity - and she talks about Steve like he’s a blonde, sometimes grumpy, Jesus._

_Darcy: 3, every person here knows about you, and rhodey, and em, and bruce, and me and he talks about us all the time. No one, however, seems to know who Obie is._

_Pepper: Faaaaasssscinating._

_Darcy: He’s totally in love with Steve._

_Pepper: Yup._

_Darcy: Does he know?_

_Pepper: Yes, he does, but he’s being a fucking coward._

_Darcy: was afraid of that. Any suggestions?_

_Pepper: none._

_Darcy: I feel uplifted._

_Pepper: Glad to be of service._

_Pepper: here, have pictures of my baby._

_Darcy: ooooooooooooo_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, pals, how are we? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I adore each and every comment, but if you want to really flail at me and get into a conversation about it, Discord is your best bet. I'm betheflame there too. 
> 
> Join us next week when Ransom's health takes a turn and Tony has some choices to make.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Bucky learns something, Tony has decisions to make, and Steve continues to pine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To quote one of the most overused lines in fandom... we're in the endgame now. 
> 
> Thanks to Marie for the beta, Jeh for cheering the snips, and every single one of you who has commented here or on Discord. I write faster knowing I'm writing for people who enjoy it, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Pennant Race_

_Steve: I thought you weren’t into baseball._

_Tony: I never said that, I just said I’d never really had a team._

_Steve: So you’ve chosen to pick my team’s biggest divisional rival?_

_Tony: I figured it would add a little spice to our relationship._

* * *

_WhatsApp: Sam Wilson_

_Bucky: Can I see you tonight?_

_Sam: I’ve actually got plans with Sharon. Can we raincheck?_

_Bucky: Who’s Sharon?_

_Sam: This is probably more of a face to face convo._

_Bucky: Are you married?_

_Sam: No._

_Bucky: You’re freaking me out._

_Sam: Just call me._

* * *

_WhatsApp: Darcy Lewis_

_Tony: What time can Frank be ready with the plane tomorrow?_

_Darcy: Are you seriously taking a 17yr old kid to a secure facility?_

_Tony: No, faithful assistant, we are. Pack a picnic lunch, you’re in charge of photos._

* * *

Tony opened the door of Koinonia about four hours after he finalized the arrangements with Darcy and heard sounds coming from upstairs that sounded a lot like Pietro and Wanda’s current obsession with Kpop, and therefore headed straight for the kitchen.

He was a bit surprised to find Bucky, hunched over a bowl of something that might have been oatmeal and bearing a grimace that was dramatic, even for him.

“Hey Build a Buck, what’s with the face?”

No response.

“Bucky?”

Still no response.

“Do you know how to sleep with your eyes open? Is this insurance salesman magic or something?” Tony muttered to himself and took the seat across the table from Bucky. He waved his hand in Bucky’s supposed line of vision and repeated himself. “James.”

“What? Sorry,” Bucky startled and blinked wide-eyed at Tony. “I was in my own world. What’s up, Tones?”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “I called your name a bunch of times.”

“Like you don’t get in a zone ever?” Bucky snapped and Tony held his hands up in surrender.

Bucky sighed. “Sorry, pal, I’m just…”

“I know I don’t often seem it, but I am a pretty good listener,” Tony said, running through all the options for Barnes’ distress in his head. _Someone is sick. Someone is dying. Someone other than Ransom is dying. One of the kids is in trouble. One of the kids is having an identity crisis. One of the -_

“Do you know anyone in a polycule?”

_Did not even crack the top twenty._ “I do, actually,” Tony replied. “A few folks. Some in committed triads, but mostly in vees or other forms of polycules.”

Bucky was silent for a few seconds. He plodded his spoon through the bowl. “I’m in one and I didn’t know.”

_Again, not even in the top one hundred._ “Okay.”

Bucky looked up and scowled. “Your mouth never stops moving. I tell you this huge thing and all you got is ‘okay’?”

Tony worried his bottom lip. “Look, Barnes. I think I’ve accidentally ended up in a few polycules over the years, if I’m honest. I know people who use me as the itch scratching sex their partner approves of. As long as it’s consensual on their part, I’ve never been bothered by it.”

“You always know you were the itch scratching before you were scratching?”

Tony considered this. _Well, there was that time with Andrea and Allison, but they apologized, and then Meghan and Sayed, and then…_ “No,” he confessed quietly. “I didn’t. But I still wasn’t super bothered.”

Bucky blinked slowly. “My guess is that has more to do with your view on your own self worth rather than proper polyamory etiquette, but we’ll cover that once you actually hire the therapist I know Steve’s been on you to get. I didn’t know Sam was with someone else, too. But, considering I never let him use labels or make commitments or declare us as exclusive or anything, I don’t think I’m allowed to be angry.”

Tony laughed. “So ‘allowed to be’ is laughable here, I think. If you are angry, you’re angry. Even if you guys weren’t exclusive or whatever, I think you deserve to know there’s someone else his dick is going into on the regular.”

“It’s a girl,” Bucky replied. “Her name is Sharon and she sounds like she’s exactly what he needs.”

“What do you mean?”

Bucky ran his hand over his face. “Sam’s a traditional kind of guy. He’s got a lot of side hustles because he went to college on a track scholarship, blew out his knee, lost the scholarship and was too stubborn or too in love with the place - depending on what day you ask him - to transfer, so his student loans make even my eyes water and mine aren’t a joke either. So he’s a mechanic, and a personal trainer, and an Uber driver, and I think he even sold those knives at one point. And he’s doing all of that so that he can get on top of his debt and get a mortgage. He wants roots, and kids, and all that.”

“And you don’t?”

Bucky’s eyes cut sideways. “I know your big thing, I guess you should know mine. Fair’s fair.”

Tony nodded.

“My dad was an alcoholic. He smacked me and Ma around a bit before she got enough money to get out of Red Hook and take the job with the Drysdales. He died when I was ten, face down in a pool of his own vomit, alone in his apartment. Turns out, though, I come from a long line of leavers, as Ma says. He left us for his addiction long before we physically left his house, but his dad left him for the same reason, and it goes back a good ways. So the buck stops with me,” Bucky grinned at his own pun, “and that Barnes DNA dies here.”

“Okay,” Tony said slowly. “But, like, you’re gay. It’s not like you can accidentally do that. Unless there’s something weird in the water out here you guys haven’t told me about.”

Bucky laughed. “No, I just went and fell hard for the one guy who deserves more than I can give him.”

“Bullshit,” Tony scoffed. “I’ve been around all the talk in this house long enough to know that’s bullshit. I got legit reasons why I can’t go after what I want -”

“You don’t, actually.”

“- but have you said any of this to him? Used your words, like you’re always telling everyone else to do? Because my guess is that he didn’t tell you about Sharon because he didn’t think you’d want to know. Sam seems like a straight shooter, pun intended, so if this is an out-of-nowhere revelation, my guess is that it’s because you didn’t say anything.”

Bucky stayed quiet for a while, fiddled with his spoon some more, and Tony was about to leave when there was a soft answer from across the table.

“I’m scared. Is that what you want to hear? Because that’s the truth. I haven’t exactly been surrounded by evidence that coupledom is a good thing, until Nat and Carol, really, but how do I know I’ll have that and not the Drysdales or my parents or-”

“My parents? Who got married because my mother was from a strategically chosen European family with ties to both politics and industry and my father had visions of grandeur?” Tony filled in. “Fuzzy Face, you’re talking to the poster child of avoiding commitment because it seems terrifying. You wanna talk about a lack of role models? If you wanna compare ‘who suffered more from lack of emotional input’, I’ll win every time. But you, with your house full of unconditional love, and this family who adores you? Use your words, big boy.”

Bucky’s mouth twitched into a smile. “That was a lot of talk about emotions from someone who claims to be allergic to them.”

“You all are rubbing off on me,” Tony replied. “Don’t read into it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Last thing I’ll say,” Tony said, “because I actually am just stopping by on my way to the Parkers’ to pick up Peter, is that I’ve known you for approximately, what, three months? And I already know that you deserve whatever makes you happy, James. Whatever makes you happy. So if it’s Sam, then hold onto that. Because a lot of us don’t have that luxury.”

And before Bucky could respond, Tony got up from the table. “Darcy was out in Queens earlier and she got a couple of spools of the yarn from that place Wanda loves, so I left the bag by the stairs. You guys have Peter tomorrow night, right?”

Bucky nodded. May had started taking some overnight shifts at the hospital in her ongoing effort to get promoted to supervisor. While Peter was technically old enough to stay in the house by himself - he was basically an adult - everyone felt a little better if he was at Koinonia, so on nights she worked, he crashed in Scott’s room.

And Tony believed that he stayed in Scott’s room and that he never snuck into MJ’s room so much that he made sure the boy always had condoms.

“Okay, we’ll be back around 9, I think. I’ll text from the plane.”

“He was over here a few hours ago, nearly bouncing out of his skin,” Bucky smiled. “You’re doing a good thing with him, Stark.”

“It’s what I wish someone would’ve done with me,” Tony said simply. “And now that is absolutely too many emotions. I have to leave before I break out in hives.”

* * *

“MJ!”

Steve chuckled to himself as he heard the front door fly open and Peter’s voice rocket through the house.

“MJ, Wanda, Pietro, you guys have to come see, I have pictures and gifts, I got you some gifts, and ohmygosh it was so amazing, Tony got me in all the behind the scenes stuff and I had to give them my phone a few times so I wouldn’t take pictures and I got to meet Colonel Rhodes and see more pictures of Emily, and-

“I wasn’t jealous until now,” Steve heard MJ reply back as their voices got closer to the living room where he was scrolling through his phone, looking at pet adoption sites. Wanda had started begging for a pet goat the week before, and Steve wasn’t sure they were zoned for farm animals, but he could wrangle her a cat if she wanted.

“Steve!” Peter brightened. “Do you want to see pictures of reactors?”

“I’d rather see pictures of Emily,” Steve confessed with a laugh, “but I’d love to hear all about your day.”

As Peter launched into a monologue about the happenings of the best day of his life, as he emphatically pronounced it several times, Steve heard Tony’s footsteps in the hallway. He looked up to see the man leaning against the door with a soft smile on his face. He made eye contact with Steve, winked, and then turned his attention back to Peter, and Steve’s heart went boom.

For a man who said he had no idea how to do family, Tony Stark was sure pretty excellent at being in one.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Sam Wilson_

_Bucky: I do want to meet her. I’m sorry I said I didn’t._

_Sam: It’s cool, man, you and I have always been casual._

_Bucky: Yeah, about that._

_Bucky: I think this is more of a face to face. Can I come?_

_Sam: Anytime, handsome._

* * *

_WhatsApp: Pennant Race_

_Tony: The Phillies are making a run for it. Our bats are hot right now._

_Steve: It’s the beginning of August, buddy, plenty of time for you guys to do what you always do and choke when it counts._

_Steve: You have no middle relief!_

_Tony: And you have no starters. You can’t get to the series without starting pitchers, Steven._

_Steve: You know, for someone who has canned goods longer than their fandom of baseball, you have strong opinions._

_Steve: A lot of them are wrong, but they’re strong._

_Tony: I don’t half-ass anything, you know that. I either no ass or whole ass._

_Steve: Okay, Ron Swanson, just saying._

_Tony: Just saying what?_

_Tony: That you’re shocked and overwhelmed by my baseball prowess?_

_Tony: You can admit it. Lesser men than you have been taken down by my ability to learn quickly and adapt to someone’s tastes._

_Steve: Not touching that._

_Steve: Btw_

_Steve: Whatever you said to Buck the other night, thanks_

_Steve: He and Sam worked stuff out and I think Buck and Sharon are meeting tomorrow night_

_Tony: no big deal, just said stuff back to him you all say to the kids. Right place right time._

_Steve: why don’t you ever take compliments?_

_Tony: I take them when they’re deserved. You wanna wax poetic about the engine, because it’s almost done._

_Steve: the engine’s easy for you, i wanna know why you can’t take praise for doing the hard things_

_Tony: Excuse you, that engine took Bruce and I a long time_

_Steve: I’m serious, tony_

_Tony: and you're not my therapist, Steve_

* * *

_WhatsApp: Pepper Rhodes_

_Darcy: Tony’s in a snit._

_Pepper: More than usual? Like a he hasn’t slept in too long snit?_

_Darcy: No. And I think it has something to do with Steve because he won’t talk about it, and whenever he’s gone to the hospital, he’s come home more grumpy than before._

_Pepper: Well, he did say he’s been meeting with Ransom’s doctors a lot. There’s been some new brain activity._

_Darcy: Maybe he’s just getting antsy about having to tell Ransom that they’re engaged?_

_Pepper: Maybe he’s getting antsy about what happens when Ransom calls him a liar._

_Darcy: I love him and want to punch him in his perfect teeth._

_Pepper: A feeling Tony frequently inspires._

* * *

“Dr. Stark,” Dr. Strange looked across his desk with piercing eyes. Tony shifted in his seat.

“I only pull out the doctor bit for the Drysdales,” Tony smiled slightly. “Tony’s fine.”

“Tony,” Dr. Strange corrected himself. “Ransom is improving fairly rapidly.”

“I know, the other doctors said the same thing. You never ask to meet, so I’m assuming the change is significant?”

The man nodded, with a stern expression on his face. “So now is the time to talk about what happens when he wakes up.”

“It’s not an ‘if’ anymore?”

Strange shook his head. “No, I checked with Dr. Gokcen, who is our expert in internal brain injuries, and he read the scans the same way the rest of us did. Ransom’s body is coming online again, so to speak. We believe he’ll slowly start regaining moments of consciousness over the next several days or weeks. He’ll be able to potentially remember what is said to him now, rather than before we were simply asking for familiar voices.”

“My security standards are still in place, yes?”

“Yes, Tony,” Strange smiled. “It’s only been you, Steve, James, Carol, Natasha, Peter, and Michelle since you issued the controls.”

_Peter and Michelle? They must have come with Steve sometime._

“I just don’t want the added trauma of the first voice he hears being his mother’s,” Tony muttered.

“Indeed,” Strange remarked.

“So, do I need to do anything?”

Strange shook his head. “I’d alert whoever you so chose of the evolution in status. As Ransom’s designated point of contact, we’ll call you first if there’s any significant change, as established. In the case of him waking up and you don’t answer your phone, would you like us to contact Steve directly?”

“Please,” Tony replied. He made some minor small talk with Strange as they wrapped up the meeting and Tony wandered down the hall to Ransom’s room.

There was more color in his cheeks, and Tony had shaved him just the other day, so he was looking relatively fresh. There was someone who came in to cut the hair of coma patients, so he looked a bit like the version of himself Tony actually liked the most - rumpled with sleep, softer somehow without the bravado and hair gel.

“Well, darling,” Tony said, with more sincerity in his voice than he thought he’d be able to muster, “this house of cards is about to come crashing down. You’re going to wake up soon and tell them all that I’ve been lying for months. You’ll tell them that not only are we not engaged, not only are we barely friends, but you leave my bed and go straight to others.”

Tony sighed, his voice feeling wobbly with emotion. Fuck it, he decided. “If I can’t break down here, where can I?”

He laughed to the empty room, accompanied only by the beeping of machines, like he had so many times before. He’d spent hours in this room since the accident, mostly alone, but a few times with Steve, just letting Ransom hear their voices.

_Steve_.

“Hughy Lewis, here’s the news,” Tony quipped. “I’m absolutely, unashamedly in love with your brother. He is the strongest, smartest, kindest, most genuine pain in my ass that I’ve ever met and the idea that I’m about to spend the rest of my life without him is making it hard to breathe. Honestly. I know I’m being sappy, and if you’re conscious at all, you are rolling your eyes at me and mentally looking for someone to kick me out, I know, but God, Ransom. He’s amazing. And the house, I mean, I’ve talked about it, but if you’re one of those people who wakes up from a traumatic event and changes things about their life, let Steve be the thing you change.

“Get to know him again,” Tony urged. “He makes a really mean margarita, which I’m sure you don’t know, and also you gotta have one of Barnes’ stuffed onion burgers. Carol can teach you all about the history of karate, no idea if you want to learn but it was pretty interesting to hear her talk about it, and Nat can give you the tattoo you’ve always claimed you wanted to get but you and I both know you’re afraid of needles.

“But honestly, let Steve love you, pal. He wants to so badly, and his love changes lives. It changed me and it’s not even love that he’s given me, so I can't imagine what the full focus of Steve Rogers' love feels like, but…”

Tony ran his hand over his face and took a deep breath, a steadying breath. “Once you wake up, Darcy’s going to handle everything and I’m taking the jet to California and Pep and Rhodey and Emmybean and none of you will ever see me again. I don’t matter to you, I know that, but please, I beg your subconscious to listen to me. Your brother is wonderful and you should know him.”

He sat in silence for a little while, lost in thought and watching Ransom’s chest rise and fall. He thought of the number of times he’d run his hands over it, how many times he’d gripped Ransom’s body to find release in his own. He thought about the conversations they’d had, the ones which had hurt Tony so badly, but he’d brushed off, thinking that’s what love sounded like.

Now he knew the difference between tolerance and love - how one scraped his soul and the other soothed it. And he’d been around everyone at the House long enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to settle for scraping ever again.

“I’m not coming back again, Ransom, so this is also goodbye. Thank you for accidentally introducing me to some of the greatest people on the planet. I hope the rest of your life is more fulfilling than it has been, and I hope you never treat anyone like you treated me ever again,” Tony finished. He rose from the chair and made his way out of the hospital and into the waiting Town Car.

“Navy Yard, boss?” Happy called from the front seat.

“Yeah, and if you happen to detour to a Burger King, I wouldn’t hate a cheeseburger, or nine,” Tony responded.

“Copy that,” Happy said with a chuckle. “And then maybe I’ll call Dr. Masochain and ask for you to be put on cholesterol meds.”

“I’m a spry 25, Haps, I can eat Tupperware if I want to and be fine,” Tony sassed.

“Of course, Boss,” Happy laughed, repeating the cadence of their well worn routine. “Of course.”

* * *

“Jarvis, make a note,” Tony muttered three days later. “Date, time first and then record that the transaxle is getting jammed on dirt but not on sand and add the data. Read back.”

“24 August, 11:42pm, the transaxle on Prototype Seven…”

Tony let Jarvis’ response wash over him as he continued to tinker with the machinery in front of him. “Hey Bruce,” he called when Jarvis was done.

“Yeah?”

“You hungry?”

“I could eat,” the other man replied simply. “I don’t remember the last time we did that.”

“Fourteen hours ago,” Jarvis replied helpfully and, if Tony wasn’t mistaken, with a slight tone of scolding. “Pizza from Carrlucci’s an appropriate midnight entree, gentlemen.” Oh, Jarvis was definitely scolding.

“You learned that tone from Pep,” Tony replied, “and yes, Judgy McJudgerton, with olives and peppers on mine.”

“Usual for me, J,” Bruce returned from his side of the bench.

The pair worked in silence until the pizza arrived and then paused the tinkering to chow down.

“You okay, dude?”

Tony’s head snapped up towards Bruce. “What? Yeah, I’m peachy, just like always.”

A truly skeptical look settled into Bruce’s face. “If you say so.”

“What does that mean?” Tony sat up a little straighter, as though fueled by the indignity in his tone.

Bruce sighed and took a bite of his pizza. After he swallowed, he wiped his mouth and peered at Tony. “Come on, pal, I’ve known you a long time. I was here when you stumbled in from Ransom’s the first time, and the fourth time, and that time with the-”

“I get it,” Tony snapped. “Still don’t see your point.”

“Yes you do,” Bruce sighed. “You’re just being deliberately obtuse. You’ve been wonky since you told me that Ransom was about to start waking up. Something is bugging you, and it’s clearly fucking with you, so what’s up? I’m all ears.”

Tony ran his hand over his face and his tongue over his teeth, buying a little time before finally deciding to share… a little.

“I didn’t think I wanted the happily ever after, Brucie Bear. The picket fence and the kids and the mortgage and barbecues on weekends. That all sounded suffocating,” Tony smiled wistfully. “But then I got to spend a few months kinda having it, adjacent to it, and now I want it, I want it so badly that I can taste it. And I know Ransom can never, ever, give me that, so as soon as he’s awake, he’ll tell them the truth and I’m out of here.”

“Wait, instead of just owning up to this whole mess and telling Steve, you’re… you’re just leaving?”

Tony nodded. “I figure Pep and Rhodey could use an extra hand around the house and you and I can work just as good with me in that lab and you out here and I have the whole private plane thing anyway.”

“And you’re just going to leave?” Bruce’s face held a look of shock. “You’re going to leave Peter? And Bucky? And all those people I met at the party? You have friends now, dude, that you don’t have to buy shots for and that make you happy to leave your lab, which I literally never thought was possible, so why are you throwing that all away?”

“Because once they find out what a mess I am, they won’t want me anyway,” Tony grit his teeth. “It’s disgusting - lying about being engaged to a man in a coma while falling in love with his brother that you never knew he had.”

“I wouldn’t go with disgusting, I’d go with poorly conceived 90s romcom, but it’s also something crazy enough for your life,” Bruce snorted.

“Bruce, I can’t be here and not be with Steve,” Tony said, his voice barely above a whisper, after a few moments of silence. “And I can’t be with Steve. I don’t get that happily ever after, it’s not for people like me. So that’s what’s bugging me. Now crawl back out of my ass and let’s get back to work.”

* * *

August 25th started out like any other normal day in Steve’s life. MJ needed a ride to her summer job, Pietro needed rounded out of bed at a decent hour to finish the last of his summer reading list that he’d been neglecting, and Wanda needed to get her hair cut. Sharon and Nat were taking care of items one and three, but he was in charge of two.

He banged on Pietro’s door at 8:15. “Come on, buddy, you got 15 minutes before I come in there.”

“That’s not enough time to hide the porn,” Pietro groaned back, and Steve bit back a grin.

“Work quick and use extra lotion - I expect you at the kitchen table in thirty minutes.” Satisfied that Pietro would amble out of bed within the requested time frame, Steve headed back downstairs and felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

“Who the hell is calling me at -”

He froze when he saw that it was the hospital.

“Hello, this is Steven Drysdale.”

_“Hello, Mr. Drysdale, I have excellent news. Your brother just woke up.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time where we meet Ransom and learn if he's one of those people who changes things about his life after near-death experiences.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tony uses some words, and Ransom and Steve do as well. Pepper and Darcy remain frustrated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marie essentially threatened my life for making her cry so hard with this chapter, so fair warning in advance.

* * *

“I don’t remember that,” Ransom rasped out, his eyes closing again as though the sheer effort of existing was too much.

“You don’t remember being engaged?” Steve clarified.

Ransom shook his head slightly. “The last thing I remember is a club and a girl, and Tony was there, but I can’t remember why Tony was there and it’s all really, really fuzzy.”

“The doctor said that’s normal,” Steve reassured him. “Your brain has been through a lot and he said it’s normal that some things aren’t firing quite right all the time.”

“Well, I’d hate to go against the curve,” Ransom replied. He turned his head slightly and gave Steve a slight grin. “But what I can’t figure out is why I don’t have any memories of you with a beard.”

“Oh,” Steve said, “I grew this about two years ago? And you and I haven’t actually seen each other for longer than that.”

“What?”

Steve took a deep breath. This was the third time they’d had this conversation.

_“Mr. Drysdale,” one of the doctors began when Steve held up his hand._

_“I go by Rogers now, and honestly, Steve is fine.”_

_The man nodded. “Your brother has been waking on and off for the past week, but as of this morning we feel he has regained full consciousness. We ran some brief tests before we contacted you and concluded that his long-term memory is probably permanently affected. His short term memory is having some problems as well, but we won’t know the extent of those for several weeks. With the swelling that Mr. Drysdale experienced, it’s likely that his short-term recall will be significantly decreased for the next two weeks to two months.”_

_“What does that mean practically?” Steve asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and wishing he’d dragged Bucky into this meeting with him. Or Tony._

_Shit. He should have called Tony._

_“Basically,” Dr. Strange chimed in, “that he’ll know who you are, but may not know you’re estranged. He may have no memory of Tony or he may have some, and you’ll likely have to explain the state of his life to him several times a day for the next while.”_

_“So,_ 50 First Dates _?”_

_Strange smiled. “Not that extreme, but if you feel the need to sing the Beach Boys, please alert the staff so I can make myself scarce.”_

“We fought a lot,” Steve replied calmly. The first time he’d explained everything to Ransom, it hadn’t gone well and Ransom had gotten so upset his heart monitor went off. Hopefully this time would be better. “I didn’t want to be in the family anymore because I was -”

“You came out,” Ransom interrupted slowly, “and Mom was awful.”

“You didn’t remember that the other two times,” Steve replied. “Good job.”

Ransom’s eyes remained closed, but a grin dusted his face. “Gold star for the block of swiss cheese over here.”

“I’ll get you a sticker chart.”

“Oh, you loved those,” Ransom’s voice was gentle, a tone Steve hadn’t heard in years. “You and Buck, you loved getting rewarded.”

“You loved being in charge,” Steve sassed.

“Someone had to be,” Ransom replied.

“Knock, knock,” Tony’s voice sounded behind Steve and Ransom opened his eyes.

“Hi handsome,” Ransom said and Steve’s breath caught at the soft smile on his brother’s face. _God, he really loves Tony._

“Hiya,” Tony said and Steve thought it was strange Tony didn’t react to the endearment at all. “I brought the slippers you like the best, and I put the last bunch of MMA fights you missed on the iPad.”

“MMA?”

Tony blinked a few times. “It’s mixed martial arts, your favorite sport. You dragged me to a few fights in Vegas. You really like it when people get knocked unconscious although maybe you don’t want to see that anymore, oh my God, I’m terrible, I’ll download you some Disney shit.”

Ransom and Steve both laughed and Ransom said, “It’s okay, Tony. I evidently just remembered my brother was gay, so we’re all on a learning curve here.”

“Did you remember that you’re gay? Because otherwise, it makes it a little awkward for us,” Tony quipped.

“I remember you,” Ransom replied, “but I don’t remember much and I don’t remember other men.”

Tony nodded, but had an expression on his face that Steve would refer to as ‘pained’ and he could not figure out why. “You had a few other boyfriends in the time I’ve known you, and a few other humans full stop and…”

Ransom stared at Tony. “Am I not gay?”

“I think you’re more just really, really horny,” Tony confessed and Ransom started laughing.

“That’s the first thing that’s made sense in a few days.”

“Well, then I better leave you two alone to talk more about that,” Steve said and heaved himself up from the chair.

“You don’t have to leave,” Tony replied.

_No, I do, because I thought I could do this, I thought I could watch you be with him and maybe someday I will be able to but not today, not when I have to keep telling him why he hates me, and how I didn’t know you until the day he almost died. Not when I have to keep myself from telling him that I’m in love with you. No, I really have to leave._

“Nah, it’s movie night at the House and I think Wanda won the bet to make us watch _Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken_ for the third time and Carol hates that movie so much that I wouldn’t dare miss watching her suffer,” Steve grinned.

“The horse jumping movie?” Ransom asked. “Romantic, enhantic, Atlantic City?”

“Down by the old New Jersey shore,” Steve finished, singing the last line. “Yeah, it’s on Disney+, along with all the other Disney Channel original movies of our childhood.”

“Oh my god, is _Alley Cats Strike_ on there?” Ransom brightened.

“You cannot remember that you’re engaged, but you can remember a Disney movie from the year 2000?”

“Swiss cheese,” Ransom shrugged.

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said affectionately. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“See you then,” Ransom said and then added, “Stove Top.”

Steve felt tears rush to his eyes. “You remember that, too?”

“I wasn’t nice, was I, before all this?”

“Not always,” Steve confessed, his voice heavy. “Not to me.”

The doctors had warned him about this, too, that some patients woke up and were conscious of the ways their brains were cataloging things. They may do some serious reflecting on who they were ‘before’ and ask lots of questions that the family members may not be comfortable answering. Steve had been prepared, he thought, but on the 2nd day of Ransom being back, when he’d started asking why they weren’t close, why he didn’t have memories of Steve, why there weren’t pictures of Steve in his phone, and then he started apologizing? It was all a little much.

“Sorry, Stove Top,” Ransom said.

“We’ll work through it, Hugo,” Steve said, using his equivalent nickname from when they were young.

Steve took his leave at that point and held it largely together for the ride home, and for the movie, and well into the night when Bucky found him in the workshop.

“Anything new today?”

“He remembered that I left because I came out,” Steve reported, not looking up from the wood he was sanding.

“He remember Tony yet?” Bucky asked and Steve shrugged a shoulder.

“Ish? He remembers Tony, but not that they were engaged or that many details about him. Like, he had no idea Pepper was pregnant or who Pepper even was,” Steve replied.

Bucky made a strange noise.

“What?”

“Nothing, sorry, just thinking how stressful that has to be for Tony,” Bucky replied smoothly.

Steve grumbled slightly. “I have no idea how he feels.”

“You wanna ask him?”

Steve shook his head. “Do you?”

Bucky sat down on one of the spare benches. “Sam met Tony for a drink last night to talk it out, so I know a little, but…”

“But what, Barnes?”

Steve regretted it the minute it left his mouth. He knew it was a mistake. He knew Bucky would clock the tone of voice and the use of his last name and make Steve have A Talk about his feelings.

He wasn’t wrong.

“Three words, and you gotta pick ones that don’t all mean the same thing,” Bucky responded.

It was a technique Steve used on residents sometimes, and they’d adopted it for themselves as well. When someone didn’t want to talk, but they still needed to communicate something about their feelings, they could choose three words to try to describe what was going on. The other person could ask about one, and then they’d go from there.

“Hopeful,” Steve said slowly, “frustrated, and tired.”

“I pick frustrated,” Bucky said.

“I knew you would,” Steve sighed deeply and went back to sanding while he composed his reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bucky pull out his phone and Steve focused on the rhythms of sanding to help him figure out how to put words on his pain.

A few moments later, he quietly said that he was trying to be happy for both of them, but couldn’t figure out how.

“Valid,” Bucky said simply. “I don’t know how you can be happy for them, or if you even have to be.”

“Of course I have to be,” Steve snapped. “That’s my brother and he’s found someone so wonderful and they’re going to be so happy, of course I have to be happy for them.”

“Well, I think you have to appear to be happy,” Bucky said. “But between you and me, if you never get there, I think that’s fine.”

Steve nodded and Bucky moved towards him and lifted the manual block sander out of Steve’s hands. “Stevie, look at me.”

Steve responded to the whispered command with tears in his eyes.

“Tell him you love him,” Bucky said, his tone fierce. “Everything is messy and different and complicated and weird and lot of other things and you should just fucking tell him and I don’t want to hear any of your excuses right now. He has to have all the information he can to make a good decision and right now, you’re sitting on a pretty crucial piece of data. You telling him will not ruin his happiness with Ransom or whatever other lie you’re telling yourself. Youse might be awkward for a while, but you’d get over it, and what if, Stevie, and just imagine this, pal, what if he loves you, too?”

“He doesn’t,” Steve said.

“You don’t know that,” Bucky replied and gripped the back of Steve’s neck to pull his face closer. “You don’t. You assume. You who are the bravest, kindest, most selfless man I know, tell him you love him.”

“I can’t, Steve whispered and began to cry in earnest. They sat like that for a while, their foreheads pressed together as Steve wept.

“Okay, buddy,” Bucky kept murmuring. “It’s your decision.”

“I just can’t, Buck,” Steve repeated.

They were quiet for a bit longer until Steve spoke. “Can I be alone for a bit?”

Bucky kissed Steve’s forehead. “I’m going to run to the shop and get all the stuff for duck, okay? With the cherries the way you like it? Maybe some potatoes?”

“You feeding me fancy comfort food?”

“Gotta put those Sur la Table lessons you bought me to good use,” Bucky quipped back and Steve could hear everything Bucky wasn’t saying. “I think you’re being a complete idiot, but I’ve said my piece and now I’m going to feed you because I need something to do with my hands and I’m going to pick the most complicated thing I can think of because I need to be distracted for a while.”

After Bucky left, Steve sat in silence for a while, letting the sounds of carving and sanding and sawing be his only soundtrack.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Sam_

_Sam: How’s Rogers?_

_Bucky: Not great. I don’t understand why he won’t just tell Tony how he feels, because it’s so obvious Tony feels the same way._

_Sam: Since when do humans operate on logic?_

_Bucky: Point taken._

_Bucky: Are you sure tonight is okay?_

_Sam: She’s ready to meet you. Like we said the other night, we’re all figuring this out._

_Bucky: If you love her, then she’s gotta be really special._

_Sam: I do. I really do. I love you, too, though._

_Bucky: That’s still surreal to hear._

_Bucky: Surreal, but nice._

_Sam: Okay, Julia Roberts._

_Bucky: I’m not there yet._

_Sam: I know, handsome. You take your time._

_Sam: She has a thing for men in white dress shirts and jeans, just as a tip for making impressions._

_Bucky: How convenient that you do too._

_Sam: I know, right?_

* * *

Tony thought that having Ransom asleep and lying to everyone was hard. It was nothing compared to having Ransom awake and thinking they were engaged and still lying to everyone. He felt like he was crawling out of his own skin and didn’t know what to do.

_Tell. Them. The. TRUTH._ Inner!Pepper screamed, the same way Real!Pepper had been. The same way Rhodey, and Bruce, and Darcy had been. The same way Bucky’s eyes told him to that first day.

He thought he’d get there first. The plan was to get there first, and take care of this and be done and be on a plane. The plan only really required that he kept his phone charged and could hear it at all times of the day or night and that plan failed when his mother arrived from Italy unannounced and demanded breakfast in the penthouse and he left the Navy Yard flat with a dead phone.

He surfaced back into the world at 10:00am exactly, to find two missed calls from the hospital, seven missed calls from Darcy, eight texts from Steve, and one from Bucky that simply read “it’s time, Stark.”

Tony had thrown up three times on the way to the hospital, unsure of what he was walking into.

_“And here’s your fiancé,” Steve said with a tight smile as Tony entered the room._

_“Tony,” Ransom brightened at the sight of him and Tony’s breath caught. Ransom had never looked at him like that and it was, for a long time, all he’d ever wanted. “I’ve been hearing all about how my brother has no idea how I landed such an awesome dude.”_

_“Literally no one does,” Bucky interjected, his eyes pinning Tony hard. Tony knew what Bucky wanted, knew he should say ‘well, actually’ and instead…_

_Instead he looked at Ransom’s face and a part of his brain went ‘what if?’ and so instead he said, “I inspire mysteries wherever I go.”_

That had been four days and eight hours ago and Tony wasn’t exactly sure what the signs of cardiac arrest were, but he was sure he was approaching them. Because the thing was - the true, core, base issue was that the Ransom who had woken up was actually pretty great.

The doctors warned that personality swings were common and he could go back to his old worldviews, but that just as many patients with closed brain injuries did change their lives in some way - sometimes for the good, and sometimes for the worse. But for now, Ransom Drysdale woke up doing his best impersonation of his twin and Tony was in trouble.

So, unlike an intelligent adult who would have gotten on a plane and forgotten this existed, Tony was instead installed at Ransom’s bedside, helping him regain memories… or, being told an entirely fabricated history that Tony was passing off as truth but was all created and ohmygod this was spinning faster than he could handle it.

“I can remember last summer in Montauk really clearly,” Ransom said. “I think, so, anyway. I can remember being at Mitch’s.”

“We spent Labor Day out there,” Tony supplied, hoping that there were parts of that weekend that Ransom wouldn’t, in fact, remember.

Ransom was quiet for a few minutes. “I remember a bedroom and you weren’t there.”

“It was an open weekend,” Tony said, careful to keep any emotion out of his voice. “We all bed hopped.”

Ransom was quiet. “Steve says you never cheated on me.”

“Well, it’s not cheating if I consent to it,” Tony replied smoothly, infusing his voice with faux cheer and smiling at Ransom.

“You didn’t, though, did you?”

The room was quiet for a minute while Tony weighed his options. Before he could reply, however, Random let out a roar of frustration. “I can’t remember and what I do remember, I don’t know if I remember because you or Steve or James told me or because I actually remember.”

“I know it’s hard -” Tony said.

“You don’t,” Ransom bit out and Tony could see frustration in his eyes as he turned to look at Tony. “You really don’t, and I’m glad you don’t because this is hell. And then, on top of it, I can’t always get my legs moving fast enough to get to the bathroom, so they want to put the catheter back in, and who knows how long I’ll have to do physical therapy to regain the muscle strength I lost and I’m tired of staring at these walls and I’m just fucking done with this.”

Tony was about to interrupt that he was sorry he presumed, when Ransom took a deep breath and smiled. “But thank God I have you, Tony. You and Steve are the best parts about this, the only good parts, and I’m so…. I’m just so glad you said yes when I asked, even though I can’t remember asking.”

It was like someone punched him in the stomach.

Tony smiled wanly and hoped it didn’t look like it. “Speaking of saying yes, we don’t have to keep that up, you know. Everything is different.”

“I know,” Ransom replied. “You’ve said that a few times. Do you not want to marry me anymore?”

_Tell him the truuuuuuuuuuth._ Pepper’s voice was like the Genie in Aladdin, and yet Tony still couldn’t force the words out of his mouth. He could, however, say some of the other things on his mind and maybe, just maybe, that would do the work for him. “No, of course not, but we need to talk about your family. Now that I’ve gotten close to Steve, I’m not sure how you want to handle all that.”

“What do you mean?”

Tony took a breath. “Steve is so good, Ransom, so very good, and the fact that your parents kicked him out and you didn’t defend him is hard for me, I can’t lie. I don’t know what I would have done, but I’ll be honest that I hope I would have chosen my brother.”

“They cut him off from everything,” Ransom’s eyes narrowed along with his tone. “He had nothing. They would have done the same to me.”

“And yet he managed a college education, a few advanced degrees, and a thriving career,” Tony replied, infusing steel into his voice. “Not to mention a lot of really amazing people and a life he can be really proud of.”

“Are you saying I can’t be proud of my life?”

“Yes,” Tony replied. “Or, I’m wondering how you can.”

“So what are you saying, Tony?”

“I don’t know,” Tony confessed. “But I’m not sure I want to marry you if you want to remain estranged from Steve. So I guess I’m asking you to think. I’ve checked into your trusts, by the way, and Linda doesn’t actually control any of your money from Harlan and I found a few notes that indicate that you knew that, but you still let her boss you around and dictate how you spend your time.”

_Where the hell is this coming from?_ Tony asked himself.

“Where the hell is this coming from?” Ransom unknowingly echoed.

“I made all the decisions for you over the past four months,” Tony replied, “and I spent a lot of time going over your financials and meeting with your broker - who I fired by the way since he was skimming 12% instead of your contracted 8% - and I realized that you know exactly what you’re doing and how you’re playing your mother and the media. You say you feel different now that you’re awake and you want to be different and that’s great, but -”

“I’m tired. I think it’s best if you leave now,” Ransom replied and Tony almost breathed a sigh of relief. _There he is_ , Tony thought. _I wondered if I pushed hard enough if the old Ransom would be back._ A return to Old Ransom would make Tony’s life so much easier. He could escape to California like the original plan and only tend a broken heart and not have to see the cause of the broken heart every damn day.

“Of course, you’ve been through a lot,” Tony replied, “and you have physio in about an hour. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“I’ll text you when it’s a good time,” Ransom replied and Tony was even more cheered.

_Okay, so maybe just a detour in the plan, not a hijack,_ Tony reassured himself as he headed for his car. _I can handle that._

* * *

Ransom had been in a fucking mood for about three days and Steve was getting sick of it.

“You tell me there’s nothing wrong,” Steve said, “but you’re in a mood and I can’t figure out why. Is your pain really bad?”

“What does it matter?” Ransom snapped.

“Because I’m your fucking brother and I thought we were building something again, but I’ve gotten a Frosty the Snowman routine for three days and I don’t know why,” Steve snapped back.

“You sound like Tony,” Ransom responded and rolled his eyes. “The nicknames, that’s Tony.”

“Well, I spent a lot of time with him. I guess he rubbed off.”

_Oh god, how I wish he had rubbed me off._

“But that’s beside the point and you know it,” Steve continued. “So, I’ll tell you what, I’m going to go, and you let me know when you’re ready to tell me what crawled up your ass.”

Steve began to gather his things when two words from Ransom froze him.

“I’m sorry.”

Steve looked at him and blinked slowly. “You’re what?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry that I didn’t leave with you, I’m sorry that I’ve never told Mom to back off, I’m sorry I let Harlan bully you into poverty, I’m sorry.”

Steve had known Ransom was trying to be different. He had not expected that the ‘different’ would hit these levels so quickly. But before he could say anything, Ransom continued.

“I had a fight with Tony a few days ago, because he called me out on it all,” Ransom said. “And then I called the new financial people he hired and started to ask some more questions about impact investing - do you know what that is?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, his voice not quite steady at the speed of the revelations coming at him. “We encourage it with our donors and Carol’s financial advisor, Beth, comes to talk to the kids every year about money. She’s big into it.”

“Oh, yeah, the house,” Ransom nodded. “I’ll get back to that, but okay, so I started thinking that if I say I want to be different, I have to actually be different. But I didn’t know how to explain that without starting with the fact that I’m sorry and that’s not easy to say.”

“No,” Steve agreed, “it’s not. Especially not for someone who hasn’t strung those two words together in a bit.” He kept his tone light, even teasing, in the hopes that Ransom would get what he was saying.

Ransom’s grin indicated that he did. “So, bro, I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” Steve nodded and found tears coming to his eyes. _Fuck, I am so sick of crying._

The two sat in silence for a few minutes and then Ransom said, “I missed a lot of your life.”

“I missed a lot of yours,” Steve countered and Ransom snorted.

“I wasted a decade of my life fucking around, you spent that time changing the world, I think we know who missed out.”

“I still missed you,” Steve said as he felt a blush warm his cheeks at the idea that Ransom used language that meant he might be proud of him. “Every time I had a kid come through the doors who liked skateboarding, I wanted to call you. Every birthday, every Christmas, every time Grandpa was in the news. I’ve never stopped being your twin, Ransom, and I’ve never stopped missing you.”

“Why didn’t you ever call? Not angry, just curious.”

“Because I also remember how quiet you were when Mom kicked me out,” Steve confessed. “And then every time I saw you since, you reminded me of all the reasons why we weren’t friends.”

“Yeah, Bucky mentioned I owe you some money for a chair?”

Steve laughed. “He would bring that up. But, if you’re up for being friends and brothers, I’m up for it, too.”

“Then, yes, friends and brothers. Let’s give it a whirl, as Bucky would say.”

“Let’s give it a whirl.”

* * *

_WhatsApp: Darcy Lewis_

_Pepper: He still has not told the truth._

_Darcy:[](https://i.imgur.com/2aqVdvQ.png)_

_Pepper: Exactly._

_Pepper: Supposedly, Ransom kicked him out of the room a few days ago for bringing up money or something and he’s hoping that’ll lead Ransom to break up with him._

_Darcy: Or he could just tell the fucking truth and we all escape this charade that’s becoming so stressful I’m going grey._

_Pepper: You are not_

_Darcy: THREE HAIRS TODAY PEP_

_Pepper: I’ll send you to a colorist_

_Darcy: that doesn’t solve the root cause_

_Pepper: Well, since Tony himself is the root cause_

_Darcy: I know. And i love him._

_Pepper: Exactly._

_Darcy: You don’t think he’ll actually marry ransom at some point, do you?_

_Pepper: No, I don’t see how even he lets it get that far._

* * *

_WhatsApp: Ransom_

_Ransom: I was a dick. Can you be here around 2 today?_

Tony looked up from his phone and stared into the middle distance for a little while. His mother had made yet another grand appearance - strange to get multiple visits in a month - and the days he wasn’t at the hospital, he was with her. His emotions were raw, and all he wanted to do was get on a plane to California.

Instead, he put his phone back in his pocket and asked Jarvis to arrange a ride for him with Happy.

* * *

“Hey,” Steve said, as he rummaged in Ransom’s hospital closet, looking for the shirt Ransom asked him to get, “this is my sweater.”

“It is?” Ransom peered at it. “Oh, yeah, that’s the one Tony always wears when he gets cold. I forgot it was yours.”

“You took it from my car,” Steve said, trying very hard to not have his brain completely record scratch at the vision of Tony in his sweater.

“It’s got holes in it, I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“It’s well loved,” Steve retorted.

“Well, you have to fight Tony for it now,” Ransom replied. “It’s what he’s been wearing whenever he visits because he claims the room is an icebox.”

“It is,” Tony’s voice came from the doorway. “But I can find another sweater.”

“No,” Steve said. “I don’t want you to be cold.” I’d also very much like to see you wearing my sweater and wearing other things and ohmygod do I have a clothes sharing kink? This is inconvenient.

“Oh, good, you’re back,” Ransom brightened at the sight of Tony. “I wanted to talk to you both.”

Steve and Tony exchanged glances. They hadn’t talked much since Ransom woke up, and Steve missed him.

“I hired Carol’s financial lady yesterday,” Ransom started, “and she’s revamping my portfolio completely, and I’m talking to a lawyer about a full will and everything. I’ve also called Mom and told her that I’m awake and wanting to see her.”

“Oh, I’m sure she took it super well that I kept that information from her,” Tony muttered.

“She handled it exactly as you’d think she would,” Ransom replied smoothly and Steve’s sensors twitched. There was a maturity in how Ransom was talking that he’d never seen before - Ransom was protecting Tony from hearing how terrible Linda was, he was taking financial responsibility, he was being proactive…

They were truly living in the Upside Down.

“She, Dad, and Harlan will be here tomorrow and I’d ask the two of you to be on call. I can handle this meeting on my own, but I will admit to wanting back up just in case.”

“What’s the meeting?” Tony asked, his voice using that slightly strangled tone that Steve knew meant he was really uncomfortable and trying hard not to show it.

“I’m renouncing the family,” Ransom said, “until they apologize to Steve and put him back in the will.”

Steve froze, but Ransom kept talking.

“Turns out, I was also given Steve’s allocation of the trust when he was kicked out, so I’ve transferred all the money that should be Steve’s to the House and it’ll be held in an endowment. Beth’s getting in touch with Carol to work out the details. But even though my broker was a jackass, I actually made a few decent investments and I can live off of the proceeds from them until I figure out how I’m going to earn a living. Bucky suggested selling insurance, but I do think I’d be good in sales.”

“I didn’t know you were talking to Build a Buck that much,” Tony said, in that same tone.

“He’s been filling in a lot of blanks for me,” Ransom replied.

“That’s Buck,” Steve said. “A fount of information.” _And confusing motives._

“Tony,” Ransom turned his attention to the fidgeting genius who had been hovering off of Steve’s left shoulder. “I took everything you said seriously and you were right. If I want to be different, I need to put my money where my mouth is. So now that I have - will you marry me for real this time?”

_Not marrying Ransom was on the table? That was an option?_

Tony didn’t say a word, but from the way Ransom’s face lit up, Steve knew his answer must have been a nod.

“Glad that’s settled,” Steve forced out. “Why don’t I go get some celebratory apple juice from the vending machine and I’ll be back.”

He beat it out of there before either had a chance to respond.

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Tony said quietly, as soon as Steve had left the room like his feet were on fire.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Ransom said.

“Well,” Tony said, with a deep breath. “You don’t really remember me or your life before the accident, and what if one day you wake up and hate that we did this so quickly? There’s no real rush.”

Ransom looked Tony carefully and his face was so much like Steve’s - _of course it is, you fucking idiot_ \- that he wanted to cry. “Tony, it’s true I don’t know a whole lot right now, but I read those tabloid articles and I talked to Bucky about my family and if I have a choice to be this man you tell me I can be or the one I was - I’ll take this one. Plus, this way I get to keep Steve and it sounds like I was a real idiot before.”

“You were,” Tony said with a chuckle.

“So, what, you always saw potential in me or something?”

“Or something,” Tony smiled, and continued to ignore the voice in his heart - which sounded like Pepper, Rhodey, or Bucky depending on the day - that told him this was the dumbest thing he’d ever do in his entire life.

* * *

About an hour later, Ransom was pretty exhausted and Steve and Tony both agreed to leave. Because the universe hated Tony with every fiber of its being, they walked together towards the main entrance to the hospital, where Tony knew Happy was waiting for him.

They were alone in the elevator when Tony decided to shoot his shot. To just be brave for five seconds and ask the question he’d been dying to ask since he saw Steve’s reaction to Ransom’s pseudo proposal.

“Steven,” he whispered and turned so he was facing Steve’s profile, which was focused very hard on the elevator doors, “can you think of any reason, any at all, why I shouldn’t marry your brother?”

Steve swallowed several times - Tony was mesmerized by the bounce of his Adam’s apple - before he whispered, “no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you next week for the wedding!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a wedding occurs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You get art from HT in this one, y'all - I can't even believe how amazing it is. Please join me in flailing.

* * *

One of the great benefits of having a jet at your disposal was being able to use it to run away. Tony had done it many, many times in his life - after his father’s death, after the first time his mother caught him with someone her age (Mrs. Navaro taught him so much), after the first time he accidentally blew up his lab and had to face Howard’s wrath, after the sex tape dropped. So he figured that agreeing to marry a man he barely knew just because he couldn’t stop himself from saying yes warranted at least a night away from Manhattan.

As soon as Steve had confirmed that he wasn’t in love with Tony, he’d driven straight to Teeterboro and hopped in his jet. He didn’t fly himself very often, but that night he’d needed something to focus his energy. By the time he showed up on Rhodey and Pepper’s doorstep, he’d been stewing on the situation for the better part of 8 hours.

He’d texted Pepper that he knew it was late and he’d use his key and not to worry about him, but he should have known better. They were both waiting up for him when he arrived.

“I’m assuming you’re here because you want to ignore what you just did?” Pepper said gently and Tony nodded.

“Well, tough,” Rhodey snapped. “Because these are other people’s lives you’re messing with, Tony.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Tony replied, lacing his tone with as much steel as he could. “You think I haven’t thought through every single scenario? Including, and this one is fun, Maria and Linda have connected and have started planning a society wedding, isn’t that just great? Maria can barely deign to speak to me in English, but Linda Drysdale somehow warrants it. I am out here because you are the only two people I fully trust on the planet and I just wanted to be somewhere safe tonight, but I have to be back in New York tomorrow by 3pm because the trio of Drysdale Doom are coming to talk to Ransom and he asked me to be on call and I don’t even know what that means, so-”

Pepper held up a hand to cut him off. “It’s 9pm now,” she said, “and you need to be wheels up tomorrow at what time our time?”

Tony did a quick calculator in his head. “7, 7:30. I have the jet stream and the fuel.”

“Then we have less than 12 hours to come up with a plan and I’m calling one of the SI west cost pilots to fly you home.”

“Pep -” he started.

“12 hours, Anthony, and you’re not going to sleep tonight, so you’ll sleep on that plane, so help me God.”

Without waiting for his response, she looked at her husband. “Can you make us coffee?”

“I’m marrying him,” Tony said firmly. “I’m not here to have you talk me out of it or come up with a plan, I’m here to wallow for 10ish hours and then get back on a plane and marry him and that’s final.”

The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock and the murmurs coming from Emily’s baby monitor.

“Tones,” Rhodey sighed and finally said. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking he’s changed,” Tony yelled. “I’m thinking I can help! I’m thinking that if Steve is so good that maybe Ransom has that in him, too, and… and maybe the last few months with Steve have just been preparing me to help Ransom be his best self, and I’m thinking Steve doesn’t want me anyway, so this is as good as I’ll get.”

Somewhere in that speech, he started to cry, but Rhodey seemed to be unmoved.

“Tones, listen to me,” Rhodey said slowly, enunciating every syllable. “Everything about Ransom’s world is what you hate about yours. Everything. What has made you happy with Steve isn’t just Steve, but it’s his people. It’s the kids at the house, and those crazy women who have adopted Pepper, and James and all of the trappings. Yes, it’s Steve, too, but when we marry someone, we marry their whole life, too. If you marry Ransom, you are marrying into everything you’ve told me you’ve wanted out of for years.”

“You’re being dramatic, Honeybear,” Tony sniffed. “He’s leaving that life.”

“Am I? Are you the one who listens to the voicemails of you rambling at 2am about how you’ll die alone because you can’t find anyone who’ll love your robots as much as they love you, or anyone to love you at all? And forgive me if his grand revelation doesn’t inspire confidence in me - we have formula in the pantry older than his new life,” Rhodey snapped.

“He’ll stay in this better life if I help him,” Tony countered.

“So you’re a servant instead of a partner?” Pepper asked quietly. “How does he help you?”

“He’ll…”

And for the first time in recent memory, Tony didn’t have an answer. Instead, he ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply.

“I don’t know. But if the option is losing even a remote chance of staying in this life that I love and marrying someone who I’ll probably grow to love, or walking away from everything, I chose option A,” Tony confessed.

“Yeah,” Pepper said, her tone gentle and it scraped Tony’s soul. He knew what she was going to say. “But would Ransom?”

* * *

“Draw 4, you motherfucker I could kill you,” Ransom muttered as Bucky grinned and watched his… friend?... draw four more cards from the Uno deck.

“Empty promises, like always, Drysdale,” Bucky smirked. “So, you tell Tony or Steve yet?”

Ransom shook his head. “I called you first.”

“Why?”

Ransom tilted his head. “You hate my family, always have, and I haven’t slept with you. Both of those things make things a little murky with them.”

“You couldn’t pay me to fuck you, pal,” Bucky affirmed, “I have my hands full as it is.”

“You gonna tell me more than that someday?”

Bucky cut a look over at him. “You haven’t earned my life yet, Hugh.”

The moment was charged, but Ransom nodded. “I haven’t.”

“So, how was Linda?” Bucky drawled out.

“Her usual charming self,” Ransom reported. “Called me an embarrassment, said some truly horrible things about you and Steve -”

“Woman will never believe we’re not together,” Bucky muttered and played a Blue 6 to switch colors.

“- and then told me to lock up the Stark heir quickly because if they’d invest in Thrombey Publishing, she’d overlook my indiscretions -”

“- how generous of her -”

“- and continue to pay for my life.”

Bucky looked up and met Ransom’s eyes. “And you told her?”

“That I’m sure if my useless, diseased - her words - twin could make a life for himself without her, I figured I’d muddle along,” Ransom smiled sadly. “And asked her to call me Hugh Rogers.”

Bucky nearly dropped his cards. “You’re going all in there, pal.”

“If I do a half life, I think I’ll be tempted to be lazy again,” Ransom replied. His breath caught slightly and Bucky leaned forward to wrap his hand around Ransom’s wrist.

“Hughie,” Bucky said softly, invoking a nickname from long ago, “this is allowed to be hard. You woke up from a coma and decided to rewrite yourself. That’s fucking hard shit, man.”

“I’m so many things,” Ransom said, tears spilled out of his eyes. “I’m embarrassed that this is who I was, I’m scared that I just made a dumb decision, I’m convinced the decision was right, I’m worried this is all because of the coma and I’m going to wake up in two months and hate everything I’ve done, I’m jealous that Steve did this so long ago and has been free of all their bullshit, and…”

Bucky held the silence for a minute. Years of living with Steve had prepared him for this onslaught of emotions at Linda’s very presence.

“My mom just told me I’m disgusting,” Ransom breathed out. “My _mom_.”

“I know, pal,” Bucky said and Ransom began to sob. Bucky simply held his hand and let him.

A while later, when Ransom had exhausted himself and was sleeping, Bucky made his way to his car and pulled out his phone.

_WhatsApp: Natasha Romanov_

_Bucky: Can you get me the name of that therapist you sent Clint to? The one good with family trauma?_

_Nat: Yeah. I’ll text it to you._

_Bucky: Thanks, Nat._

_Nat: You okay? You’re carrying a lot of people right now._

_Bucky: Never better, doll._

_Nat: You know you never call me that except when you’re lying?_

_Nat: After this farce of a wedding, I’m sending you and Sam on vacation._

_Bucky: And Sharon._

_Nat: You’re there with her?_

_Bucky: I think I could be._

_Bucky: And time away from you yahoos is a good time to see._

_Nat: Amendment: when this farce of a wedding is over, I’m sending you and Sam and Sharon on vacation._

_Bucky: We’ll take it._

* * *

Steve blinked a few times as he watched his brother try on his suit. It was off the rack, and Ransom of six months ago would have turned up his nose at it, and that reminder was still mind boggling.

“You’re bigger in the shoulders,” Ransom said.

“I actually go to the gym and work out,” Steve replied sarcastically, “not just to sip smoothies and ogle.”

“I have a trainer,” Ransom protested and then made a face. “Well, did.”

“Good news,” Steve said, “is that I hear Sam is a great trainer and looking for new clients and I can promise you is much more budget appropriate to your new life.”

After Ransom had cooly informed Linda that he was, in fact, marrying Tony and would, in fact, remain in relationship with Steve, the woman had wasted little time removing Ransom’s access to their family properties and estate funds. They’d been informed that she was placing his personal belongings from the Wellesley apartment in a storage unit and he would be welcome to pick them up at his leisure.

_“I love how she thinks I can drive to Massachusetts,” Ransom rolled his eyes as Tony and Steve each snorted._

_“She made Steve hand his keys back on the spot,” Bucky reminded the room. “So at least she’s letting you keep your weird scarf collection.”_

_“Philistine,” Ransom scoffed, with a twinkle in his eye. “They coordinate with my coats.”_

_“They have other uses too,” Tony mused and Steve had swallowed his tongue at the quick visual of Tony tied to a bed by silk scarves. Tony must have caught a look on Ransom’s face, because he was quick to go on. “They make good pot holders.”_

_“You’ve used a $4k Hermes scarf as a pot holder?” Bucky gaped._

_Tony had the decency to blush at least. “And to shine DUM-E’s strut a few times.”_

_“Jesus Christmas, Stark,” Bucky cackled. “I’m putting both of you on a budget.”_

And so instead of getting married in a custom Tom Ford suit and being featured in the society pages of the Times, Hugh “Ransom” Drysdale was getting married in a suit his twin bought from Men’s Warehouse in a hospital chapel in Manhattan.

And from the doofy grin on his face, Steve couldn’t imagine his brother any happier.

“Hopeful looks good on you,” Steve said softly.

“It feels good,” Ransom admitted. “You gonna stand with me on Friday?”

“You want me to?”

Ransom caught Steve’s eye in the mirror he was posing in front of. “If you’ll have me back, I want you back.”

While Steve was absolutely tired of crying, Ransom’s words shocked more tears out of him. They’d been dancing around this kind of commitment - there had been apologies and explanations and story telling and the like, but there hadn’t been the concise declaration.

“What should I call you?” Steve asked. “You started using Ransom when you were hateful, but I know you hate Hugh, so…”

“I’m thinking about that,” Ransom admitted. “Tony asked the same thing, if I wanted to let Ransom die with my old life and I think so, but I don’t know what to replace it with. You got the better middle name.”

Steve laughed. “I really did.”

“I know I’m going to take Rogers on,” Ransom affirmed, “which means I have to lose Ransom because that sounds terrible.”

“Ransom Rogers is a no for sure,” Steve grinned. “And James, Tony, Steve, and Sam are taken in our family already, so you gotta pick something else.”

“And from the way Tony talks, I think Peter might be, too,” Ransom grinned. He was quiet for a few moments as he futzed with his tie and straightened his jacket a few times. Finally, he turned to Steve. “How do you feel about Anatole?”

“As a name?”

Ransom nodded. “It means something like ‘sunrise’ in French and I’ve always loved it.”

“You speak French?”

Ransom grinned. “I dated a French model for a year before I met Tony. I may not remember everything, but somehow, the language survived the swiss cheesification.”

Steve laughed. “Why Anatole?”

Ransom rubbed the back of his neck in a gesture that Steve hadn’t seen since they were young - except in a mirror. “I like the idea that this can be my sunrise. Phoenix is a terrible name, but that’s the vibe I’m going for. So Anatole Rogers? I mean, not until after the wedding since the license has to have my legal name now and all, but I wanted to run it by you first.”

Steve swallowed the lump in his throat at the idea that Ransom wanted to run something by him first, and grinned. “Bucky’s going to go nuts with the nicknames.”

“He’s calling me Sunshine isn’t he. For the rest of our lives, I’m going to be ‘Sunshine’.”

“Oh, 100%, Anatole, 100%,” Steve laughed and was gratified to see his twin’s face break out in a smile.

* * *

* * *

Tony thought he was going to vomit. He was wearing a custom made Tom Ford three-piece suit and Ransom was in one that had been quickly tailored to accommodate his weight loss and slight muscle atrophy. Everyone that Ransom wanted to be part of his new life - which was basically everyone who mattered to Tony - was gathered in the small hospital chapel. Rhodey was serving as Tony’s best man, and Steve as Ransom’s. From the outside, it probably looked romantic.

It was one of Tony’s personal circles of hell.

He knew he shouldn’t, _couldn’t_ , marry Ransom. He didn’t even know Ransom, and Ransom barely even knew himself. Tony may be an idiot with emotions, but even he knew that trying to build a healthy relationship together on a fiction and traumatic brain injury was just the dumbest idea he’d ever had.

And yet, they were all in places. He could hear the liturgy being read, could feel Ransom’s hands in his - and oh, how they felt different from Steve’s - and could feel all the eyes of everyone he loved on him.

_I have to make this stop._

“If anyone gathered here has -”

“Stop,” Tony whispered. Ransom’s hands tightened on his.

“What was that, sweetheart?”

“We gotta stop,” Tony said more firmly, gaining volume and strength.

“We gotta stop what, sweetheart?”

Tony gritted his teeth. “I’ve never been your sweetheart, Hugh. This is all… the pre-coma Ransom treated me like shit.”

The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop, which is why everyone absolutely heard MJ say “daaaaamn.”

Tony dropped hands with Ransom and began pacing around the front of the small hospital chapel. The words spilled out like they had wanted to for months and with each sentence, Tony simultaneously felt sadder and more free.

“You and I have been sleeping together for about a year, maybe longer, there are some really blurry party memories, but we’ve never been exclusive, ever. We certainly have never been engaged. You refused to learn Pep’s name and referred to my company as my lame hobby, and generally gave me every indication that all I was to you was a piece of ass who knew my way around a blow job, but I… I know now that I was desperate for affection and thought I could settle for whatever was offered. But…

“But I was with you the night of the accident and I saw that car hit you and then we got here to the hospital and no one would tell me how you were and so I just…”

Ransom’s face twisted into a smile of sorts. “You did what I’ve learned you always do, you jumped in the middle of a mess and fixed it.”

“No, I lied.”

“Not mutually exclusive, Stark,” Bucky murmured just loud enough for everyone to hear, but not loud enough to interrupt Tony’s flow.

“I lied,” Tony repeated. “I lied and I kept lying because….” He blinked a few times, shocked to find tears falling out of his eyes. “I lied because I fell in love with your brother and with his whole life. I have been so lonely, so exceptionally lonely and Darcy, and Bruce, and Rhodey, and Pep have been telling me for years to stop spending so much time with people like, well, like you, who use me for my body or my brain or my money but pretend I don’t have a heart and I’m tired. So I lied at first because my ego got bruised and then I kept lying because I learned I don’t really need one.”

The room was quiet, so Tony kept going.

“I have never,” he turned to the crowd and started making eye contact with nearly everyone one by one, “met anyone like you people. I had no idea that family could look like this, that I could feel completely at home with a house full of people who I’ve only known for months, but I do. I am really emotionally invested in your horse farm, Val, and I loved learning organic chemistry to help you out.”

“Come again?” Val’s eyes went wide. “I thought you knew it already.”

Tony shook his head. “You needed help and I had a free few hours. Didn’t take very long.”

“Okay, after we sort this mess out, you and I are having a conversation about boundaries and saying no,” Val said.

“Get in line,” Darcy snorted affectionately.

“I’m so proud of the work you’ve put in on all your projects, Wanda, and how many baby blankets you’ve knitted, and Pietro, the chair you built is my favorite thing in my loft. And MJ…”

His voice caught again as he looked at the young woman, whose face was inscrutable. “I have a feeling you’ll never forgive me for this, another person in your life who used you for their own gain, and I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I hope you know that every time I told you that you are the future of the planet, that you are why I believe everything will be okay, I meant it. You are worth three thousand of me, and I’ve already set up a Google alert for you so I never lose track of your greatness.”

She didn’t reply, but he saw her lean a bit more into Peter.

“And Peter… kid, the sky isn’t even the limit for you. Carol, and Nat, thanks for showing me what marriage can look like and Bucky…”

Bucky held up his hand. “This ain’t over, Stark. We’ll talk later.”

Tony caught a few looks of surprise around the room and heard Carol hiss at Bucky “ _you knew, didn’t you?”_

_Time to blow this popsicle stand._

“But I’m so sorry, so exceptionally sorry.”

He was sobbing now, and started patting his pockets for a tissue or something to wipe his nose with before he made a grand exit. Instead, he found a blue pocket square pressed into his hands.

“You bought the suit anyway,” Steve’s whisper was also full of tears and Tony was afraid to look at him. “Might as well use the fabric.”

Tony nodded tightly and then took a deep breath. He turned slowly to Steve and looked right into his eyes and decided to be completely brave for the first time in his life. “I love you and I’m sure of it. Lying to you because I was selfish and wanted to keep you in my life for as long as possible may not sound like love, but I’m kinda new at this, so let’s not be surprised I fucked it up, okay? But I do, I love you more than I thought I was capable of. And I know you’re mad and I know you’re -”

“I’m not mad,” Steve cut him off.

“You’re what?”

“I’m not mad,” Steve said. “I’m not sure what I am, but mad isn’t on the list.”

“What…”

“If I may suggest,” the officiant said from behind Ransom. “This has clearly turned from a wedding ceremony into something else and another room may be more appropriate? And perhaps where Mr. Drysdale can rest?”

“I’m so sorry,” Tony turned back to Ransom.

“I got that,” the man chuckled. “The first four hundred times you said it. I think I missed some stuff. But let’s do this where I’m sitting down, okay? Getting a little woozy.”

At that, there was a flurry of activity as the party moved from the hospital chapel into one of the conference rooms. Tony had no idea who coordinated the effort, but at one point, he saw a wink from one of Ransom’s main nurses and it occurred to Tony that some of the staff had probably overheard him over the months and had chosen to keep their mouths shut. He had no idea why, but he was grateful.

As he was crossing the threshold into the conference room, a blond head caught his eye and he couldn’t stop the name from coming out of his mouth. “Sharon?”

The woman grinned and Tony realized she was holding hands with Sam. “You’re Sam’s Sharon?”

Sam did a double take. “Tony’s the eccentric but lovable weirdo you work for?”

If anyone was expecting Tony to take offense at that idea, they’d be mistaken. He laughed instead and said, “one of the more generous ways I’ve been described. Good to know you’ve stood by those NDAs.”

She leaned in briefly to hug Tony and whispered in his ear, “we’re going to talk later about how when I told you I need to know everything about your life so I can protect you best, it includes fake engagements, okay?”

Tony chuckled softly and kissed her temple in affirmation. He saw her move back towards Sam and then Sam said something to Bucky, presumably about Sharon’s boss and Bucky’s eyes went wide and caught Tony’s.

Add that to the list of things Bucky will want to have ‘a word’ about.

“Are we all here?” Ransom’s voice was a little strained, but strong. “Good. I have some questions, and I hope Tony has some answers.”

“I do,” Tony whispered.

“That’s what I thought we were doing,” Ransom chuckled, a dry sound, but not an unkind one. “So, start from the beginning, will you?”

“I kind of already did,” Tony admitted. He walked them through the process of that first night in the hospital again - making eye contact with more people this time. He saw Nat and Carol reach for Wanda, Pietro, and MJ. He saw MJ curl into Peter, and Bucky’s jaw set itself so hard it could probably break glass. He saw Rhodey hold Emily and cast repeated glances at Steve, while Pepper and Darcy stared straight at him with inscrutable expressions. Bruce simply looked uncomfortable.

The only person he couldn’t look at, in fact, was Steve.

“And then,” Tony finished, “you asked me a second time and even though my feelings for Steve hadn’t changed, I knew Steve wasn’t interested in me -”

A sound akin to a snort went up from most of the crowd.

“ - and so I said yes to your actual proposal.”

“But why,” Ransom asked quietly and Tony felt everyone hold their breath.

“Because you said you wanted to learn to love me,” Tony whispered. “That felt like a pretty good deal.”

“Are you fucking nuts,” Ransom exploded. “I’ve been post-vegetable for, like, three weeks! I thought we were rebuilding my memory, not building something from scratch. Jesus Christ, Stark, how much like shit on the bottom of my shoe did I treat you?”

“I wouldn’t scroll back too far on your Instagram,” Nat volunteered.

Ransom blanched briefly. “No, I’m breaking up with you, right now. I know you called off the ceremony, but… fuckssake, Stark. Even if Steve doesn’t love you, which... “ He looked at Steve who nodded, “looks like he actually might… Hold up.”

Ransom rolled his chair to a different angle and faced Steve. “You with all the psycho babble and the encouraging me to use my words and you have known this punk for months and you didn’t tell him? You didn’t either? God, you two deserve each other, fuckssake. Did anyone know this bullshit was happening?”

“I did,” Bucky said.

“Us too,” Rhodey volunteered. “And we made the same point to Tony about just telling the truth.”

“Well I’m glad someone tried to prevent this train wreck,” Ransom replied. “Shows the two of you have better taste in friends than judgement in your own choices. Jesus fuck, I come back from the dead to put up with this. Stove Top, you gonna handle your shit?”

Steve, who Tony noticed had not said a word during the entire conversation, simply nodded.

“Alright, peanut gallery, I think that’s our cue,” Bucky hoisted himself off the chair and started making shooing motions to everyone as he grabbed the handles of Ransom’s wheelchair. “Since you got fake stood up at the altar, can I reward you with some ice cream and I’ll tell you some terribly embarrassing stories about Stevie you missed while you were being a dick?”

“Best offer I’ve had since I got fake stood up,” Ransom quipped.

“I’m sorry,” Tony whispered again.

Ransom shook his head and reached out to grip Tony’s wrist as Bucky wheeled him past. “It’s gonna be weird, but honestly now that I think about it, you two make way more sense, so let’s do a fresh start, okay? Besides I have a name change to tell you about, so may as well wipe the full slate clean.”

“You’re being very zen about this,” Tony replied.

“Oh, I’ll extract punishment later,” Ransom said cheerfully as Bucky snorted.

“He will. If Whoever 2.0 is anything like early versions of Ransom, he’ll still be a little shit,” Bucky replied.

“Bucky, I’m -” Tony said.

“I heard. We’ll talk later, like I said. I’m proud you told the truth finally,” Bucky said softly and kissed Tony on the cheek before pushing Ransom out of the room.

“I’m definitely not mad,” Steve said a few beats later after everyone had cleared out of the room. “What I am is sad.”

“Okay, Dr. Seuss,” Tony replied. “You wanna expand?”

Steve worried his bottom lip. “I’ve been falling in love with you for three months - probably since the first time you and I argued about economic policy in the hospital - and I’ve gotten pretty good at the idea of you being with Ransom. Now that you’re not with Ransom and you’re telling me that you love me and all of a sudden I can have my dreams come true, I’m…”

“Can I pause on the first part there?” Tony spoke as Steve trialed off.

Steve nodded and Tony noticed his eyes were full of tears.

“You love me?”

“So much my heart hurt whenever I thought you weren’t mine,” Steve whispered. “I love your brain and your generosity and how you just make things better. I mean, you are also arrogant and stubborn -”

“Pot, kettle,” Tony smiled.

“And refuse to admit you’re wrong -”

“I can just feel the romance filling the room like perfume.”

“But, God help and forgive me, I love you,” Steve finished. “But the fact that you lied because you wanted to keep us and you thought we wouldn’t have you any other way makes me so fundamentally sad I don’t know what to do.”

Tony reached tentatively out and took Steve’s hand. As they wrapped their fingers together, Tony replied quietly. “Can I kiss you or is it too soon and too creepy?”

“Did you ever love my brother?”

Tony shook his head.

Steve leaned forward and cupped the back of Tony’s neck with his hand. “I think it’s probably both too soon and too creepy, but I don’t fucking care.”

As their lips touched, Tony found himself inhaling sharply. Steve’s lips were softer than he’d imagined - and oh, boy, had he imagined - and his kiss was insistent. Steve Rogers did things with intention and kissing was no different.

It felt hungry, yet reserved and Tony was about to press his tongue to the seam of Steve’s lips to get him to open when Steve pulled back. He pressed their foreheads together and said, “wait.”

* * *

He had to get a grip on himself.

Ever since the accident, it didn’t seem like Steve’s life shifted slightly when it changed. Instead, entire emotional tectonic plates crashed against each other and he had to react in an instant to the new terrain.

The idea that Tony loved him was the most miraculous thing he’d ever heard.

The idea that Tony lied because he was so convinced Steve wouldn’t want to know him if he told the truth was achingly painful.

The idea that Tony - gorgeous, giving, generous Tony - wanted to be with Steve? Overwhelming.

The idea that Tony - young, bruised, vulnerable in so many ways Tony - wanted to be with Steve? Overwhelming.

“Wait, Tony,” Steve breathed as he broke the kiss. “We do actually need to talk.”

“I know,” Tony replied.

“I don’t particularly want to do it here,” Steve said.

“I don’t particularly want to do it in a suit,” Tony said. And Steve had to force his brain to stop showing him images of his fingers unbuttoning Tony’s suit.

“What if,” Steve said, “I pick up some food and I’ll meet you at the warehouse and we’ll go to the roof?”

“The roof sounds perfect,” Tony said.

About two hours later, Steve rang the bell at Tony’s building. He came bearing tacos from a taco truck right by the House and wearing his most comfortable sweatpants and hoodie. He had a beanie hat on, because it was October and getting dark, and he and Tony had a lot to talk about.

They made small talk while they ate, both dancing around the obvious issues. Finally, when Steve wiped his mouth after the last taco, he shifted his chair to look directly at Tony.

“Therapy,” he stated simply.

Tony nodded. “I know.”

“I don’t think we should start to build something until we can figure out why you made the choices you made,” Steve continued.

Tony started cackling with laughter, a sharp sound that surprised Steve. “Oh, handsome, I can tell you exactly why I did this. It’s not actually that hard to figure out and I actually said most of it in the chapel. And I’ll be honest, once I start therapy, there will be a lot of work ahead of us and I don’t particularly want to do it alone.”

“No matter what, Tony,” Steve said, “you won’t be alone.”

Tony shook his head. “What crystalized for me when I was standing up there was that I don’t want a half something with you. I’m not interested in being friends, really, with you. What I feel for you is far too strong to settle for that.”

Steve felt his breath catch. “What do you feel for me?”

Tony was quiet for a moment and when he began speaking again, his voice was contemplative. “When I was living with Pep, her mom and I had a conversation one day. My mother had swanned in, as she does, ordering me around in rapid fire Italian and had paraded me about Boston. She’d arranged for photographers to capture us having perfect mother/son bonding moments and I spent the whole time running algorithms in my head for projects she never asked about.

“Then, I go back to the Potts’ and Mrs. Potts was making bread. It was such an insane contrast between mothers that I started laughing and then I was laughing so hard that I was crying. She just held me and then gave me a cloth to wipe my face. After I was done, we talked about how my mother made me feel and I tried to make a bunch of jokes, but she just kept peering at me steadily, the way Pep does, actually, and I finally talked a little.

“I said that it hurt, but not as much as it was supposed to,” Tony sighed, “and she asked me why I thought that.”

“Why you thought it didn’t hurt as much as it was supposed to?”

“No, why I thought it was supposed to.” Tony’s mouth twisted in a sad smile. “And I realized that I expected my mother to act like all the moms on television and she literally never had. So if it didn’t hurt that she treated me like an accessory, maybe that was okay, because she was never going to treat me like anything else.”

Steve nodded and held his tongue. But you’re still allowed to be sad because she’s your goddamn mother.

“I mean, I still get upset sometimes, because she’s still my mom, but are you upset every time Linda acts like herself?”

Steve shook his head. “No, probably only 10% of the time.”

“Yeah, that’s where I am with Maria,” Tony said. “But I get upset every single time Pep or Rhodey does something hurtful, and frustrated every single time Darcy dates someone not good enough for her, and all these other emotions I’ve attached to people who deserve them.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

Tony picked at his cuticles for a few seconds and then met Steve’s eyes. “Because with you, I feel all of the emotions, but not like I do with Rhodey or Pep, or even Bucky or Carol or Nat, now. With you, it feels like I don’t have to hold anything back, really, and I know that sounds crazy because I was holding back this big thing, but with you…”

“Do I make you feel like you’re safe?”

Tony blinked a few times. “Yes. And I think you’re the first person who has.”

“Because you make me feel like as long as I make you happy once each day, I’ve served my purpose on this planet,” Steve admitted. “You rearranged my priorities over the last few months, Tony. I know I’m good at this job. I know I am, but I never thought I needed to be more than good at this job. And with you, I know that I have to be.”

Tony reached out and threaded his fingers through Steve’s, a simple yet intimate gesture that made Steve feel a sense of rightness he didn’t know he needed.

“I know,” Steve continued, “that I love you, like I said. If we are going to build something -”

“Please,” Tony interrupted softly.

“-then I take back what I said and we should start now. We can build together, because I think couples therapy might be a good idea eventually, once your therapist says it’s a good idea.”

“I’m about to spend a lot of time talking about my feelings,” Tony groaned.

Steve raised one eyebrow. “I’ll come up with ways to occupy other parts of your time that don’t include words.”

Tony blushed and Steve kissed his nose. “Not yet, and I don’t know quite when, but to answer the question I think your eyes are asking, yes. Very much yes.”

“I’ve never had a relationship where I didn’t fuck someone before I knew their last name,” Tony admitted. “I’m already liking this better.”

Steve laughed. “We’re gonna build something to last, Tony, I can tell.”

“Well, Master Carpenter, I trust you,” Tony said.

“I love you,” Steve replied. “I’ll work on the trust.”

“Can you hold me while you do?”

“It would be an honor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you go, friends! I promised that a happily ever after was happening and LOOK, we still have two chapters to go! The lads and I will see you on Friday for some found family fluff and the infamous Lip Sync Battle Party.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some snippets from the next year of their lives - including an update on Stark Industries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marie gave me a lightning fast beta after I took far too long to write this chappy, so she gets even more kudos than normal.
> 
> Moodboard in the middle is mine because I'm on a kick lately.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Tony Stark_

_Steve: Can you get extra cranberries?_

_Tony: Are you making sauce from scratch?_

_Steve: Of course I am._

_Tony: But cranberry sauce comes from a can._

_Tony: Next thing your’e going to tell me is that we’re eating stuffing you cooked in the bird’s ass_

_Steve: No, only Stove Top in this house. But homemade cranberry sauce._

_Tony: If you can make homemade sauce still have the ridges, I’ll consider it._

_Steve: You realize you are one person of 22 I have to feed?_

_Tony: Oh, poor overworked Steven. It’s not like Sam and Bucky and Carol and MJ aren’t cooking nearly everything for you and all they asked you to do was the turkey and one side._

_Tony: You’ll surely crumble under the weight of the responsibility_

_Steve: The turkey is hard_

_Tony: I didn’t realize they still had dicks after they killed them_

_Steve: you’re disgusting_

_Tony: but i’m your disgusting_

_Steve: for my sins evidently_

* * *

“What are you getting Tony for Christmas?” Peter asked Steve one snowy December day.

“A vacation,” Steve said simply. “What are you getting MJ?”

“No more details, just a vacation?”

“No more details,” Steve confirmed.

Peter looked quizzically at him.

Steve sighed. “Tony’s life has been public for a long time and then he wandered into this life where we’re all up in each other’s business. His therapist thinks it’s important for him to have things that are just his until he decides to tell people about them, so I’m trying to help.”

Peter nodded. “That makes sense. I’m getting MJ pottery lessons, she wants to learn.”

“That’s a great idea,” Steve smiled.

“I love her,” Peter whispered.

“Have you told her?”

Peter shook his head. “It’s stupid, but I told Mom and Dad and then the next thing that happened is that they died. I haven’t said it to another person since then.”

“Not stupid,” Steve said quickly. “Very real, and I’m sure she understands.”

“I haven’t exactly told her,” Peter confessed.

“Then maybe what you should really get her for Christmas is a little honesty,” Steve said gently.

Peter rolled his eyes and sighed. “You’re right.”

“It’s what they pay me the big bucks for.”

* * *

“The Hamptons,” Steve blinked.

“Yeah,” Anatole said.

“You bought a house in the Hamptons,” Steve reiterated.

“Correction,” his brother said. “I bought _Koinonia_ a house in the Hamptons because it’s only a two hour drive and I think the kids should have somewhere they can take free vacations. Kids deserve vacations.”

Not for the first time in the six months since Anatole had been awake, and certainly not the last, Steve grinned at his brother and was momentarily overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness.

“That’s a great idea,” Steve said.

“Tony came up with it,” Anatole admitted. “And it was his mother’s house, in full disclosure. She put it on the market without asking Tony, but I checked with him and he said he approved.”

“It needs work,” Tony said as he entered the kitchen and sat at the table next to Steve. He joined them immediately in their work of shelling peas for that night’s cookout. “Can someone explain to me why we’re shelling peas like it is 1857 and not the 21st century?”

“Because MJ asked for freshly shelled peas,” Anatole replied.

“Perfect reason,” Tony grinned and popped a pea into his mouth. “Yeah, still hate them when they’re fresh. Anyway, Mom’s design aesthetic is more Super Old Money With Limited Class than the Rustic Barn But Indoors thing we’re all rocking here, so some cosmetic work for sure. And I think the bathrooms could use some new fixtures and the shower in the master isn’t great. But with a little elbow grease, I think it would become Koinonia East.”

Before either man could respond, Tony looked at Anatole. “Also, I have finally decided on your official nickname.”

“Well, this is a momentous occasion,” the man himself grinned.

“You vetoed so many good ones,” Tony complained.

“Toll House is not a good nickname,” Anatole argued.

“Says the boy who calls his brother Stove Top,” Tony sassed back.

“Neither was Toll Bridge,” Anatole continued.

“I’ll admit, my rough drafts left something to be desired,” Tony conceded. “But I was with Patsy today -”

“Yeah, how was the session?” Steve asked.

“We talked about the kidnapping when I was 9, the one where Howard refused to pay and so I had to learn Russian just to understand what was happening, so I feel like my insides have been flayed open with a dull knife, thanks for asking,” Tony said. “Back to the nickname, Patsy suggested one that I think will work. Ant.”

“Ant, like the bug?” Steve clarified.

“Ant, like the hard worker who believes in teamwork, who likes to plan ahead, who is solid and dependable, and everything you are in this new incarnation,” Tony said and made eye contact with Anatole. “And you like bugs. So it fits all around.”

“Plus, ants fight to the death, which is pretty much what I’d do for all of you,” Ant said. “Approved. I am now Ant.”

* * *

* * *

He’d been summoned to SI HQ and ordered to wear a full suit and tie and that only meant one of three things. One, his mother was flexing some of her powers as owner’s widow and was about to make changes that would make his life inconvenient. Two, Obie was on another power trip and called a surprise board meeting to elect yet another officer that would make Tony’s life inconvenient. Three, they’d been sued by someone large and important and therefore, inconvenient.

In summary, Tony was only summoned to the Tower for reasons that would add stress and inconvenience to his life.

So he could have been knocked with a feather when he walked into the board room to be greeted by Nat, Carol, two of SI’s legal team, Darcy, and a stately woman with perfectly coiffed hair who looked like she was about to run for president.

“Nat?”

“Anthony,” Perfectly Coiffed Woman stood and offered her hand. “We haven’t had a chance to meet. I’m Barbara Danvers, Carol’s mother and your new majority shareholder.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Mom,” Carol huffed. “We had a script.”

“She’s just excited,” Nat gently scolded her wife.

“And I should be, this is a brave new day,” Barbara grinned as Tony shook her hand.

“He’s a genius, but not clairvoyant,” Carol responded. “Tony, get comfy, we’ll start from the beginning.”

His eyes dashed to Darcy, whose look told him that she knew what was happening and he should take a seat and listen.

“We didn’t mean to do any of this behind your back, Anthony,” Barbara began.

Tony held up his hand. “Please, Tony. The only mom allowed to call me Anthony is mine and you’re not condescending Italian enough.”

“Oh, you were right, I do like him,” Barbara beamed at Carol who grinned in return. “Tony,” she continued. “I apologize for not looping you in sooner, but this all transpired remarkably quickly.”

“And you haven’t answered your phone for a week and Steve told us to leave you alone because you were almost on a breakthrough with the….” Nat trailed off.

“Subparticle accelerator for Musk’s team,” Tony replied. “If I pull it off, we can fund the House for approximately ten years on the cash he’ll pay me.”

“Well, that’s lovely,” Barbara smiled, “and my husband will want to hear all about it because he loves anything that involves the word ‘accelerator’, but while you were doing that, I had some questions about diversifying my stock portfolio.”

“We both use Beth,” Carol said, “so Mom started asking Beth about impact investing and heard all about some of my portfolio.”

“And then I called my daughter, because I couldn’t understand why she thought that Stark Industries was something to be involved with,” Barbara continued, “and I got an earful about the heir.”

“Right, but I’m not in charge until Obie retires,” Tony said, his brain spinning to catch up with the women.

“Yeah, see, Pepper asked me to look into your dad’s will, and that’s actually not true,” Nat said.

“I’m sorry, Pepper asked you to… why?”

“Because I’m a lawyer,” Nat said calmly.

“You own a tattoo parlor,” Tony corrected.

“I can multitask,” Nat retorted.

“When? Why? What?”

“You broke Tony,” Darcy chuckled.

“Because I get bored easily and my wife decided to completely rewrite the foster care system in New York State and so when she started dreaming, I started studying and voila,” Nat motioned with her hands.

“And now she’s our family lawyer, too,” Barbara interjected. “It’s very handy. Do you have a will, dear? Natasha can take care of that.”

“I think so?” Tony replied. “Wait, you went to law school, Nat, just to make Carol’s life easier?”

Nat snorted. “Like you wouldn’t figure out a way to fly yourself to the moon if Steve asked.”

Tony blinked a few times. “Touche, continue.”

Nat slid a large file across the table and gestured to the members of the legal team. “Obie falsified the will. Long story short, it’s a good copy and that’s why it stood up for so long without anyone noticing, but we talked to the Attorney General -”

“Willard is a dear friend,” Barbara offered with a twinkle in her eye.

“- and he agreed to not prosecute Obie if Obie immediately sold all of his shares,” Nat continued. “The original will states that you got all of your father’s shares upon his death. Your mother kept her 30% that she originally invested, but you were to get 55% with the remaining 15% going up for public auction.”

“Howard didn’t leave Obie anything,” Tony marveled.

“There was a note in some of Mr. Stark’s personal effects that just surfaced,” one of the legal suits said, “which heavily implied that Mr. Stane was losing Mr. Stark’s trust.”

“So the issue is that while Obie never owned any of the shares he claimed to, he bought out several other investors on their merit and therefore ended up actually owning about 30% of SI. There were some additional issues,” Nat explained, “since you accidentally violated the terms of the original will by starting your own company that could be considered a rival -”

“What?”

Nat waved her hand. “I’ll get into the details later, Tony, but I promise we moved as fast as we did for a reason. Just let me finish.”

She waited for his nod and then did so.

“The actual split right now is that you own and control 53% of all of SI’s holdings, which does also include J&A, and your mother owns 17%. She surrendered some of her control in order for there to be a new majority non-family shareholder, which removes your mother from any decision making capabilities, which is actually what she wanted. Your father,” Nat paused for a moment and made a face like she was eating a bitter lemon, “evidently never consulted your mother on how much say she wanted in SI and the answer is truly none. She simply wants you to be happy.”

“My mother doesn’t know that word in English,” Tony said, “so someone got played here, but fine.”

“I had a lovely few days in Tuscany,” Barbara said, “and your mother and I have come to quite an accord.”

“Why were you Tuscany?”

“Oh, why I’m the new majority non-family shareholder,” Barbara smiled at him. “And the stipulations of your father’s will were that if your mother surrendered voting control to another person, that person would be the 2nd most powerful vote on the board. When I explained to her that her negligence contributed to malfeasance and corporate espionage and also to you being a punching bag for the international press for most of your life and what a shame it would be if I were to make that point on my very good friend Chris Hayes’ MSNBC show next week, she was surprisingly quick to understand the necessity of signing over some of her shares.”

Tony blinked. “So you and I control the company?”

“I believe it’ll be a pleasure doing business with you, Tony,” Barbara grinned and something in Tony settled that he hadn’t even known was out of place. He felt tears spring to his eyes and blinked rapidly to keep them away.

“And why did you have to move so quickly?”

“Well,” Legal Suit #2 grinned widely, “about an hour ago, Mr. Stane was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation White Collar Crimes unit for about six charges of blackmail, corporate espionage, insider trading, and a few other things. They requested we have all the stock sales complete before his arrest to speed his trial along. We were only too happy to comply.”

“So I’m really in charge?” Tony said again.

“Really and truly, Boss,” Darcy said as she moved from her seat in the corner and threw her arm around him. “Do I finally get to make the call?”

“Oh, no, I’d like to do this myself,” Tony grinned. He got up and walked over to the phone on the sideboard. He pressed two buttons and a woman’s voice sounded through the room.

“Nakia, my queen, it’s Tony,” Tony crooned.

“What trouble did you cause me now,” the tone was scolding but kind and one Tony was deeply familiar with.

“None so far, but I’m sure you’ve been briefed on some administrative changes SI has undergone recently?”

Nakia snorted. “I’m preparing our statement now about Mr. Stane’s departure, yes. Why?”

“Can you add an addendum that as of,” Tony checked his watch, “10:42am on September 14, SI will begin shuttering it’s weapons divisions and siphoning our resources into sustainable energy, green technology, and microfinance loans?”

There was a silence on the other end of the line and then a sniffle. “Mr. Stark, it will be my honor. Will there also be investments in foster care resources?”

“I believe there will be, Nakia,” Tony grinned. “I think you and Darcy can get to work on that.”

“Oh, do I get to be a full SI employee now?” Darcy grinned and dashed for the phone. “Hear that, Nakia? He can’t pretend we don’t know each other anymore.”

“Oh fuck,” Tony said.

“Oh wait until I tell Shuri,” Nakia said.

“Do not tell -”

Tony sighed and turned to Darcy. “She didn’t sound surprised that I was shuttering weapons.”

“I may have laid the groundwork that it was what I thought your first act as owner would be,” Darcy grinned.

“Are you possibly free for the rest of the day, Tony?” Barbara piped up. “I have some questions and I thought it would be good to get to know each other.”

“My schedule, for you ma’am, is clear.”

“None of this ma’am nonsense. We’re colleagues. My name is Barbara,” she replied.

“Well, Barbara, I do my best thinking on a full stomach -” the three women in the room who knew him all snorted and he scowled at them “- so let me order in and we’ll get to work.”

“I already placed the order,” Darcy said. “Focus on what you’re good at Stark and let me do everything else.”

“You have quite an impressive staff, Tony,” Barbara remarked. “And quite faithful friends.”

“I’ve made it a practice to surround myself with people who are smarter than me ever since I met my best friend Pepper when I was 14,” Tony explained with a grin. “I made some missteps, but it’s working out so far.”

“Indeed it is,” Barbara smiled back. “Indeed it is.”

* * *

_WhatsApp: Natasha Romanov_

_Bucky: How’d it go?_

_Nat: He practically started to glow as Babs opened her notebook to show him her plans._

_Bucky: boy needs a mama_

_Bucky: and a business manager_

_Nat: and in Babs he has both_

_Bucky: you trust the legal guys?_

_Nat: I gave Babs a list of names I think need to be fired as soon as they get a new CEO in place. I still think that we should woo Pepper back. She didn’t want to work for Tony and that’s completely fair, but Tony is about to sign over a lot of decision making to Babs temporarily, so I think they could negotiate._

_Bucky: Could you imagine the level of world domination SI would achieve with Pep as CEO?_

_Nat: With glee, Buck. With glee._

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this,” Steve said quietly to Ant the night before the Annual Lip Sync Battle.

“Positive,” Ant smiled and Steve was taken aback, once again, how this new life felt miraculous. “It’s going to be embarrassing as hell, but I love that Sharon, Buck, and Sam want to be our backup dancers.”

Steve laughed. “I think Sharon heard that we were attempting choreography and had a minor aneurysm. Tony said she started sending her boyfriends YouTube clips the same day.”

Ant snorted and went back to smashing buttons on the Switch - Steve thought he was playing Animal Crossing, but the button smashing lent more to Zelda - for a few moments before he spoke again. “Last year, I remember being so jealous of this life.”

“Last year at the party, you mean?”

“Yeah, it was, what, two weeks after capital ‘e’ Everything,” Ant said, “and I was still getting used to the idea that you had this whole world without me.”

Steve snorted and got up to grab more water from the kitchen. When he was settled back down he made sure to sit on the couch so he was facing Ransom. It was a rare quiet few hours when no one else was around. Carol and Nat were on a rare vacation, while Tony and Bucky had taken nearly everyone to pick pumpkins somewhere down in Jersey, which Steve had begged out of immediately.

_“Stevie, what is your damage about pumpkin picking?” Bucky rolled his eyes._

_“It’s a racket,” Steve replied. “You pay for the pumpkins, you pay to get into the farm, you pay for the tractor to get you to the field.”_

_“It’s supporting local farm economy,” MJ informed him, with a tone in her voice that he knew he should back down from._

_“Baby, just tell them the truth,” Tony giggled and Steve rolled his eyes._

_“Fine, I hate pumpkin picking because I always trip over the stupid vines and end up stepping in a pumpkin and then I smell like raw pumpkin and it’s terrible,” Steve grumbled._

_“Was that so difficult, honeybuns?” Tony crooned._

“Hard because it was overwhelming or hard because… well, I don’t know why else,” Steve admitted.

“Hard because I didn’t know where I could fit,” Ant said. “Hard because I wasn’t sure you needed me, or how that would even work or if I wanted to be needed.”

“It’s been _a year_ ,” Steve replied and let the comment hang for a few minutes.

“But yes,” Ant replied, his tone laced with confidence. “I am positive that I would like to mortify myself in front of everyone we love as long as you come through on your end of the bargain.”

Steve felt the tips of his ears heat. “I’m still not sure he’s ready.”

“Are you fucking joking,” Ant rolled his eyes. “That boy has been scribbling ‘Tony Rogers’ on all available surfaces for the entire time I’ve been awake. Just ask him already.”

Steve didn’t say anything for a few moments so Ant filled the silence. “Or, I’ll be forced to change out the jeans of the costume for some short shorts.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Or, I saw that they make denim thongs now,” Ant grinned mischievously.

“Family show, Anatole!” Steve cried. “You gotta keep the mouse in the house.”

The pair laughed for a few minutes as Ant nominated increasingly obnoxious changes to their costume until finally Steve held up his hands in surrender.

“Fine, I’ll ask him at the party.”

* * *

When Tony was 21, if you had told him that the best night of his life was going to be in a backyard in Brooklyn, watching an 18-year-old in a corset dance to Rihanna’s “Umbrella” to surprise his girlfriend, Tony would have said you were on acid. The battle party was in full swing and the water rig that Tony had constructed for Peter had just released and the crowd had gone wild in all the best ways. There were about sixty people scattered throughout the spacious backyard and sitting on the porch and - Tony squinted - a few sitting on the porch roof as well. Pietro had brought someone as a date and Tony had gotten a lot of practice using neutral pronouns, while Wanda still clung to Nat’s side as she always did in large groups.

Tony had assumed a party this large would be catered, so he’d offered to pick up the tab the previous year and had gotten his hand swatted.

_“All House parties are potluck,” Carol said. “You want to contribute, open a recipe book and figure out how your oven works.”_

_He’d thrown a helpless glance at Steve, who only grinned. “Come on, sweetheart. You always say baking is just chemistry and that it can’t be that hard.”_

_“I say that to sound smart, not to actually bake things!” Tony protested._

_“Well, money where your mouth is, Stark,” Bucky grinned._

_Which is how Tony started his personal journey of making the world’s most perfect macarons._

Tony was in charge of all the tech for the night and he’d made everyone do a dress rehearsal with him to make sure things were perfect - which had gotten him four eye rolls from Bucky and Ant who called him anal retentive and an affectionate pat from Nat who said she expected nothing less - but even he hadn’t seen the Grand Finale.

Which was coming up next.

The only thing it said on his sheet was “ _Need Ant’s Phone, MJ will deliver. Tony just plug in._ ”

When Peter’s insane performance was over, he ran up to the booth, still in full costume, but rubbing himself dry with a towel. “I got it from here, Mr. Stark.”

“No,” Tony said. “You’re dripping all over my equipment.”

Peter looked down at his admittedly drenched ensemble. MJ - who Tony hadn’t even realized was behind him - simply rounded the back of the booth and took Peter’s wig off. She then unzipped the corset and took off the oversized flannel shirt she was wearing and shoved it over his shoulders. “There, he’s dry. Now scat, Stark.”

“This is my job,” Tony protested.

“Not for this song it’s not,” MJ smirked and pointed to an empty chair a few feet away next to Pepper and a sleeping Emily, completely conked out in her mother’s lap.

“You were banished, I see,” Pepper remarked as he flopped next to her.

“From my own booth,” he whined.

“Something tells me this deserves your full attention,” she replied, just calmly enough that Tony knew something was up.

“What does everyone know that I don’t,” he asked.

“Many, many things,” Rhodey replied as he took the seat on the other side of Pepper. “Now hush.”

Before Tony could retort, he saw Steve, Anatole, Bucky, Sharon, and Sam take the stage in costumes that had come straight out of a boyband music video. Then the strains of “As Long As You Love Me” by the Backstreet Boys started and Tony’s jaw dropped.

For the next three minutes and thirty-eight seconds, Tony sat transfixed as his boyfriend and four of his closest friends recreated the 1997 classic. “Do their outfits match the video?” Tony asked Pepper at one point, making himself loud enough to be heard over the whoops and hollers of joy that were rising in the backyard.

“I didn't think that either Rogers could move like that,” Rhodey responded.

“Yes, it’s all an exact copy,” Pepper replied as Emily started to stir. She blinked sleepily until she caught sight of her Uncle Steve, upon which she clapped and giggled and pointed and Tony could hear tiny cries of “Unca Seeb” coming from her very excited body.

The only person who possibly loved Steve more than Tony did was Emily, and he was a-okay with that.

As the song ended, Tony was ready to leap to his feet and get back to the soundboard to shut off any speakers or just generally help how he could, but Pepper pressed a hand to the top of his thigh. “Be cool, Soda Pop.”

“ _Outsiders_ reference? Really, Pep,” he rolled his eyes to her smirk but then the crowd quieted down as Steve and Bucky both started asking everyone to do so.

“What is happening,” Tony said, loud enough that his voice carried over the new silence.

“Stark,” Bucky said. “Get up here.”

“No,” Tony called back.

“Seriously,” Sam replied and Tony noticed that he and Sharon were making their way towards him. “Get up there.”

“Why?”

“Because we said so,” Sharon said.

“I like it here,” Tony protested, both to be intentionally contrary and because he genuinely wanted to see what they’d do if he kept protesting.

And he got his answer as Sam picked him up and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, much to the delight of the crowd. When Tony was deposited on stage, Sam gave Bucky a mock salute, then a brief kiss, and then stepped down off the small platform Bucky had constructed earlier in the week.

“Thank you for your kind attendance, Anthony,” Bucky replied and Tony flipped him off.

“I got it from here, Buck,” Steve said.

“You sure?”

“Absolutely.” A look passed between Steve and Bucky that didn’t make any sense to Tony, but he’d also tried to stop figuring those two out a while ago.

“Steven,” Tony said slowly. “What is happening?”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Steve started, not answering Tony’s question. “I’ve thought about if you’d want it to be quiet, or you’d want it to be loud. I wondered if it should be on the roof or it should be somewhere completely unique. I wondered if Ant should be here or not, and then both Buck and Ant told me I was thinking too much.”

“It sounds like it,” Tony replied.

“So, I decided that the best way to ask you this question was on a night where we were surrounded by people who knew our story,” Steve said. He got down on one knee and Tony gasped.

He turned his head and peered out at Rhodey and Pepper. “Came all the way from California to see the show, my ass. You knew this was happening, didn’t you.”

“This _is_ the show, cupcake, eyes forward,” Rhodey replied.

Tony heard a chuckle rumble through the backyard as Steve continued. “I fell in love with you in a hospital waiting room on one of the worst nights of my life, and then again on a rooftop on one of the best, and then over and over and over again. Over the past year, I’ve seen you consistently choose bravery and constantly choose community over isolation.”

“Okay, Frodo, let’s cut the sap,” Tony hiccuped through the tears that were rolling down his face. He’d heard Steve’s theories about Frodo and Sam’s heroes' journeys through _Lord of the Rings_ enough times that he knew a soliloquy was coming. “The answer is yes.”

“I didn’t ask the question!”

“Then fuck it,” Tony said and got down on his knees to join Steve. “You know that Ant asked me once when I fell in love with you, exactly, like the exact moment and I couldn’t tell him. I just told him it was while he was sleeping because it happened both suddenly and all at once for me and it’s kept happening ever since. Marry me?”

“My line,” Steve said through tears of his own.

“You took too long,” Tony replied and closed his mouth onto Steve’s.

“Did either of them say yes?” Tony heard Sam call out.

“The spit swap may be a substitute,” Bucky replied. Tony flipped Bucky off without breaking the kiss and the crowd laughed.

Steve pulled back and said loudly, “yes, Anthony Edward Stark, I will marry you with glee and the appropriate amount of fear since you keep setting things on fire.”

“It was the once and Darcy put it out quickly,” Tony replied loudly.

“Not the point, Stark,” Darcy called from the crowd.

“I love you,” Tony said softly to Steve as the noise from around them picked back up. “And my answer is yes, I will marry you, Steven Grant Rogers, with glee and the appropriate amount of fear since you could easily crush my weak and fledgling heart with your giant man paws.”

“I will use my powers wisely,” Steve grinned.

“Hey, let’s get married,” Tony said and Steve’s grin widened.

“Hey, let’s get off our knees because I’m old,” Steve replied.

“I forgot you’re a cradle robber,” Tony sassed as they rose and locked hands.

“Shut up,” Steve said.

“That’s shut up, fiance,” Tony sassed.

“Shut up, future husband,” Steve sassed back.

Tony laughed and then let himself be drawn into a crowd of family as they all wished the boys well. He caught Ant’s eye at one point, whose smile was big enough to rival Tony’s own. He made a gesture like he was putting his head on a pillow.

_“I just need to know you’re okay with everything,” Tony had said to Anatole one evening around Christmas._

_“You mean, okay with all the things that have been true for months? Like that you’re in love with Steve?”_

_Tony nodded._

_Ant made a face. “Of course I am. Besides, the longer I work on being a new person, the more I realize that I don’t want to be with you.”_

_Tony laughed out of shock, but Ant continued. “Look, dude, I think you’re great, and I’m happy to call you brother someday pretty soon I’m sure, but you and me? It wouldn’t work. I really need structure and order now and those things drive you nuts. I love being outdoors and hiking and camping now and you think camping is a cheap hotel.”_

_“Your new fascination with bugs is unsettling,” Tony admitted._

_“And I think your fascination with trying to make robots is a little weird,” Ant shrugged. “Cool, but weird. So stop being paranoid, Tony. You’re his and he’s yours and it’s perfect.”_

_Tony must have still looked a little unsure, because Ant started speaking again. “I’ll tell you what, you ever need reassurance just catch my eye and I’ll do this.” He folded his hands next to his cheek, like he was miming sleep. “You fell in love with him while I was sleeping, right? So this just means that I’m cool.”_

Tony nodded at Ant’s gesture and saw Ant immediately begin to follow Darcy with his eyes. Oh, pal, Tony thought. She does not like bugs or camping or fishing.

Then Tony saw Darcy see the attention and she fluffed her hair just a little and Tony raised his eyebrows. Steve caught him and asked “what?” Tony pointed to the pair with his eyes and Steve laughed.

“Looks like Ant might be trading those fishing mornings for yard sale hunting,” Steve laughed.

“Love is fun, eh?” Tony giggled.

“And a whole lot of other things,” Steve replied as they sealed their engagement with a kiss once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all. I've been waiting 14 chapters for you to meet Barbara Danvers. I had this scene in my head since I introduced Carol and Nat and I hope you love her as much as I do. Tony needs a mama as well as a husband, and Babs is ready to love him to distraction. 
> 
> See you next Friday for our grand finale as Tony and Steve get their happily ever after.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they live happily ever after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, dear ones, here we are at the conclusion. I hope the journey was worth it for you. Your words of encouragement/frustration have made this such a rich experience of writing. 
> 
> Thanks, specifically, to Marie and Jeh for beta-ing this and cheering this with such unflagging enthusiasm. 
> 
> This final chap includes lovely art from [kocuria](https://kocuria.tumblr.com/) \- thanks to Issa and HT and ko for giving us all some visuals for this journey. If you've been inspired by these idiots to create something, please let me know. It's always an honor. 
> 
> Without further adieu... the finale.

“Are we sure we want this specific taco truck?”

Steve looked over at Tony, who was futzing with something on a tablet - something that, as far as Steve knew, had nothing to do with their wedding.

“Are you replanning the reception again?”

It would be the fourth time, so it was not like Steve wasn’t used to it by now.

“It’s an honest question,” Tony protested and Steve simply stared him down.

“Fine, I met these girls who make arepas that are both sweet and savory and I thought that would be a better option,” Tony said. Steve kept staring. “Maybe they’re undocumented.”

“Did you taste the food this time? Or is this going to be like the Valentine’s Day party?”

“I tasted it,” Tony said. “They need some higher quality ingredients, but they have the recipes.”

“I love your passion,” Steve said. “I adore that you want to support everyone, but I’m still going to have to draw the line at giving everyone food poisoning while we do that.”

“It was an honest mistake,” Tony grumbled.

“Babe, when we went into the truck, those dudes handled raw chicken with their bare hands. You want the girls - which of course I support you in, you ridiculous man - please pay for them to do a ServeSafe course,” Steve replied.

“So I can hire them?” Tony brightened and Steve’s heart clenched. For a reception of 100 people in the backyard of Koinonia House, Tony had hired (so far) six caterers or food trucks, four bands, two decorators, and a small army of wait staff. He was taking to social responsibility like a duck to water and Steve loved it.

He was just a little worried about fire codes.

“What if we moved the reception?” Steve said. “Keep the ceremony in the yard, under our tree, but the reception can be somewhere larger?”

Tony sat straight up on the couch and turned to fully look at Steve. His entire body radiated joy when he spoke. “Are you saying that I can rent out the Navy Yard pavilion? Are you finally agreeing to that quote ‘radically unnecessary expenditure’ unquote?”

“Well, it’s not radically unnecessary anymore if you’re going to invite all of Brooklyn.”

“Oh now you’re just dreaming small,” Tony scoffed. “We’ll allow some people from Queens, too.”

* * *

“You can just ask her, you know,” Steve said to Ant. The pair were at their favorite pub, watching the Six Nations Rugby tournament on a snowy Saturday in March. The Ireland vs Italy match was on the screens around the place, but Ireland had basically sewn up the championship, so the boys were watching with one eye each.

“I have never actually asked a girl out,” Ant replied with a slight wince.

“Alice Monroe, fourth grade.”

“I demanded she kiss me.”

“Martha Sanderson?”

“She begged me to let her blow me.”

“Jesus, Ant, we were twelve,” Steve snorted.

“Yeah, well, I was garbage.” Ant took a swill of his beer.

“Hey now,” Steve put a hand on his arm. “You were so much classier than garbage. Maybe rubbish?”

Ant snorted and flipped his twin off, who simply grinned and drained his Guinness. Making the ‘ _do you want another_ ’ gesture - to which Ant nodded - Steve went up to the bar to get their next round.

Ant found himself staring around the pub, looking at the groups of people gathered for the match and the ones who simply were there to be at a pub on a Saturday afternoon around lunch. There was a table of women around their age with a mix of accents but obviously a deep love of each other - they kept switching seats presumably to have conversations with specific people. Their selfies were unposed and traded with glee, and one of them had loudly ordered a few baskets of fries earlier because ‘today was a marathon not a sprint’.

Ant couldn’t take his eyes off of them - so much so that Fry Lady saw the table empty and got up to come over.

“I don’t think you’re a creeper, but I’m drunk enough to ask if you’re planning on wearing our skin as a suit later or something,” she said, full of confidence and on the fun side of flirty.

“My sewing skills are horrible,” Ant replied. “So probably not.”

“Only reason?” Her eyes sparkled and he wanted to know her.

But not as much as he wanted to know Darcy.

“Only reason,” Ant grinned. “You all look like you’re having a great time.”

“We are,” she affirmed. “We all used to live together in Belfast, but now we’re spread all over the world. We get together once a year somewhere else and this year was Brooklyn since Orfhlaith over there is getting married to a Brooklyn boy in a few months and is settling here. We had to catch the match, though.”

“My brother’s getting married to a recovering snob from Manhattan,” Ant replied. “And we grew up in Mass, but both claim Brooklyn now.”

“Nice,” she grinned. “I’m a Philly girl, so obviously I understand that all boroughs are inferior to my city, but you’re cute so I’ll let you slide.”

He laughed. He was about to open his mouth for a reply when Steve reappeared with their drinks. Steve, the model of a modern Emily Post since the womb, stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Steve.”

“Kiersten,” she replied, taking it and then looking over at Ant with an eyebrow raised.

“Ant,” he supplied and busied himself with taking a sip of his drink. This was where he didn’t quite know what to do. At this point, Ransom would have invited the entire table over to join them and then peeled Kiersten away from her friends to get personal in the bathrooms or the coat closet or his apartment, depending on location and time of day. Ant didn’t want to do that - not only because he was here with Steve, but because it was obvious how those other women were her family and while she may flirt a bit while with them, he doubted that any amount of dick would make her abandon her people.

Ransom also wouldn’t have flirted with a woman who wasn’t a size four. Kiersten’s curves made Ant’s hands itch for sure, but…

She wasn’t Darcy.

He was thankful that Steve was making small talk and that’s when Ant noticed the girl was just as animated with Steve as she was with him. _Way to assume she’s flirting when she’s probably just making small talk, weirdo._

“... and then your brother here was creeping the fuck out of us, and I’m 100% that bitch who will walk up to strangers, so I came over just to make sure he wasn’t about to trap Ciara or Orf in the bathroom or something.”

_Literally, just making sure you’re not a serial killer. Read that ALL WRONG._

“Ant’s been out of social scenes for a little while - some job stuff and family stuff - so he’s awkward, but harmless,” Steve assured Kiersten.

“Yeah, as soon as he looked at my eyes and not my tits, I knew he was kosher,” she laughed.

“His fiancé calls me an awkward potato sometimes,” Ant offered. “I’m sorry I made you guys uncomfortable.”

Kiersten shrugged. “You’re good, but thanks for apologizing. I’m going to go give them the good news that our lives are safe, but we’re going to a karaoke bar after this if youse are bored and want to join us.”

“We have some plans with our family after this, but if you’re open for more friends, we could combine groups,” Steve offered.

This idea of adding more people to gatherings where no one was naked was still novel to Ant. He was used to giant parties for sure, but they were usually full of people high as kites and looking to get off as quickly as possible and then move on. Steve and Tony and Bucky and everyone kept adding people to social gatherings where talking was involved.

“Oh, that sounds fun! We like new friends at karaoke especially. Let me check with the girls.”

Which is how Ant found himself in a private karaoke room with Steve, Tony, Bucky, Sam, Sharon, and their five new friends, singing “I Will Survive” at the top of his lungs… just as Darcy walked into the room.

He caught Steve’s eye and saw only warmth and encouragement. Well, he told himself as the song was ending, if I can tell Linda to go fuck herself, surely I can tell a girl that I think she’s pretty.

Surely.

* * *

_WhatsApp: Bachelor Party Planning_

_Bucky: There’s absolutely no reason to not have a joint thing. We’re all enmeshed with each other anyway. So it’s about getting someone to stay with the kids for a weekend while we all bunk off._

_Carol: Babs and Martin already agreed. I think Mom is going to make MJ teach her how to TikTok._

_Sam: God help us all._

_Nat: Where do you think we should go?_

_Ant: I know it’s kinda lame, but May in the Hamptons is actually really nice. Why don’t we just use that house and have a house party?_

_Bucky: I don’t hate it_

_Sharon: Professional Sharon thinks it’s a great idea because I can easily secure the property._

_Sharon: Friend Sharon thinks it’s a great idea because those beds are fucking divine._

_Ant: We can put the boat in the water and go out a bit. The water will be absolutely freezing, but if it’s sunny sailing is nice._

_Sam: I can happily cook everything if I get access to that kitchen._

_Darcy: Pep, what’s the plan?_

_Pepper: Emily can stay with Rhodey’s parents for the weekend, so we’ll both be there. She’s overjoyed to get away from us these days._

_Bucky: Great, then let’s put Sam in charge of dinner on Sat and brunch on Sunday._

_Darcy: I’ll get salads and snacky shit for lunch on Sat_

_Nat: what are we doing for breakfast on Sat?_

_Carol: Mom wants to cater something. She called a friend._

_Nat: I’m not getting dressed to have Colicchio or Emeril at this party._

_Carol: I’ll pass that on_

_Sam: We’re getting breakfast from the cast of Top Chef?_

_Bucky: Welcome to life with Babs._

_Sam: I do not hate it._

* * *

“I love you,” Tony said quietly as he watched his friends' faces around the fire. The early June air was chilly from the wind coming off the ocean and Bucky and Sam had built a fire in the firepit. Everyone he loved - minus the Koinonia kids - was gathered around the pit. Bruce had discovered a camaraderie with Ant over biology (Ant was considering going to school for microbiology), while Darcy and Nat had been talking about the differences between a paralegal and a lawyer for over an hour. Tony had a feeling Darcy was heading back to school as well.

They’d eaten Michelin-starred food from Stephanie Izard for brunch and then spent the day alternating between storytelling, drinking games, snacking, and more storytelling. It was absolutely the best bachelor party Tony could have dreamt up, so he wasn’t surprised at all that Bucky had been at the helm.

“I love you,” Steve affirmed as he laced their fingers together.

“Next weekend.”

“I’m so ready,” Steve said.

“I’m nervous,” Tony admitted. “I’m ready and scared at the exact same time.”

“I keep thinking of that line from the Sara Bareilles song MJ wants us to dance to - I’m underprepared but I am willing,” Steve said. “That’s how I feel. I’m ready, but I know we have no idea what comes next. I just know I have to do it with you.”

“What if Patsy and I hit something that makes me terrible and you can’t live with me?”

“What if Ant tells a story that unearths a memory and I go feral or something?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Tony protested.

“Yeah, I did.” Steve smiled and squeezed Tony’s hand. “Willing is all we can ask for right now. Two years ago, I didn’t think I’d ever see my brother again and now we live in the same house. Who has any idea what comes next, so of course we’re underprepared. What if your mother decides to move back from Italy and be a grandma when we start to adopt kids? What if my mother has a lobotomy and becomes human? What if Carol and Nat get divorced and we have to chose sides? What if they cancel The Amazing Race and Bucky’s dream of winning it dies a fiery death?”

“Of everything you just said, that one scares me the most,” Tony replied.

“We can’t live in ‘what ifs’, baby. I know that in seven sleeps, I’m standing in our back garden, under the giant oak tree and I’m making a covenant with you. I’m not just making a promise, I’m making a covenant. I’m swearing fidelity and allegiance and to prioritize you above all others. I’m saying that I’m in this for as long as I have breath in my body, no matter how hard it gets, no matter what my feelings are on a particular day, no matter what. And as far as I’m concerned, as long as we stay the people we are when we make that covenant, I’m fucking sticking to you like glue.”

Tony considered this. “So, divorce would only happen if we change as people into someone who can no longer keep the covenant.”

“In my view, yes,” Steve affirmed. “So as long as I’m a version of me that lives and dies by the vows I’m making next week, I will craft my life around those vows.”

“Are you still wanting to do the traditional and custom?”

“Are you?”

“I have things I want to say,” Tony replied, “but I like the point you made about using the same words that have been used by humans for centuries.”

“So, we do both.” Steve nodded.

“Both is good,” Tony murmured. He got up from his chair and arranged himself into Steve’s lap. Bucky called out that they were being gross and sappy, to which Sharon responded that he cried the night before while they made love so he should shut his trap, to which Darcy howled with laughter from her place next to Ant, to which Ant’s face lit up at the sound of Darcy’s laugh.

* * *

“Dearly beloved, and we do mean _dearly_ ,” Ant grinned at everyone in the crowd, “we all know why we’re here. If you’re sitting in this backyard it is for one reason only and that is to witness the marriage of Tony and Steve.

“They both have a bunch of other names, and we all know them. Names that tie them to their pasts, to their biological families, to the legacies they were born into. But I think we all also know that they come to each other and to us today as Steve and Tony - two men who met under fucking outrageous circumstances and found love in the midst of it all. Two men who have taught most of us the importance of listening to Bucky -

“Damn straight,” Bucky replied from his place behind Steve.

“- and using our words as quickly as possible,” Ant finished and scowled slightly at Bucky. “You’re throwing off my groove here, dude.”

“Sorry,” Bucky held up his hands in surrender and a chuckle echoed through the crowd.

“He’s been watching YouTube videos to get the cadence down,” Darcy volunteered from the front row. “The groove is important.”

“Quiet, you,” Ant scowled at her, causing her to grin widely.

In other words, their wedding was completely about them and not about them at all and they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“As I was saying, I think we’ve all learned a lot from these two, I know I have. I’ve learned about the power of honesty, about being your full self in the moment you’re in, about the importance of hearing well, and about what family really looks like. I mean, I learned that from a lot of you, but I went from having no brothers, functionally, to having two and it’s something incredible. To be loved by these two men… well, I think you all know that it’s basically like living in the middle of a tsunami of giving a shit.

“If you are lonely, or looking for a home, or looking to figure out who you are, there are few better people to have in your corner than Steve and Tony. Steve, with his unrelenting patience combined with a, frankly overwhelming, intense passion for justice both in yourself and in the world. Tony, with his belief that he’s never met a problem that can’t be solved and he’d always rather sacrifice sleep than your joy.”

Ant smiled and Tony saw a sheen of tears in his eyes. Even though Tony and Steve were standing before Ant holding hands, Tony knew that if he looked at Steve, he’d be a mess and he had vows to get through.

Bucky leaned in and handed Ant a few tissues. He winked at Tony before disappearing again behind Steve’s back and Tony felt Pepper scratch the small of his back to let him know she was there if he needed her.

The backyard was shaded, thankfully, so Tony’s choice of outfits for them all weren’t as warm as Steve had complained they would be.

_“Full suits, Steven,” Tony protested. “We’re getting married once and I want us in full suits. Pinstripes for you, because you look yummy in them, and I have a whole look planned out.”_

_“It’s June in Brooklyn. It’s going to be too humid for full suits.”_

_“It’s 30 minutes of your life,” Tony pleaded. “Plus ten for photos. Please please please please please.”_

_“Fine.”_

The three men wore grey suits, while Pepper had on a royal blue dress she’d commissioned to match everything perfectly. Hints of various shades of yellow appeared on all the outfits - like Pepper’s stilettos - and everyone in their family wore one or all of the three wedding colors. When Tony had seen Emily in a pale yellow dress in the same pattern as Pepper’s, he’d wept openly.

It was a damp day all around, to be frank, because none of them seemed to be able to stop crying.

“So when they asked me if I would do the weird internet thing and get licensed, I didn’t even actually bother to say yes, I just got out my phone and started googling,” Ant laughed as the crowd did too. “I can’t believe I get to be in their lives after all the shit I pulled, so the fact that they’d want me to preside over this incredibly important day just blew me away.”

Steve dropped one of Tony’s hands to reach out and take Ant’s. The brothers had a few moments of silence together before Ant continued.

“So today is about the start of something, sure, but it’s really about the cementing of something. These two have been building a family of their own for a while now and today all we’re doing is affirming that we - the gathered - believe this is a good and proper thing as they promise to each other to keep doing it.

“The elements of this ceremony look a little different, however, than some others you may have been to,” Ant looked specifically out at the crowd. “You’ll notice that Steve and Tony aren’t the only ones making vows today. Instead, many of us will be, and you all, as the gathered, will be asked to as well. Marriage isn’t something which happens in a vacuum, and we will all be relied on to participate in this covenant with them and help them keep it when it’s all a little hard to do.

“But first, Steve and Tony make theirs.”

Ant looked at Steve, who cleared his throat and dropped his hands. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out some index cards. “I have notes.”

“Of course you do,” Tony said affectionately.

“I didn’t want to ramble,” Steve defended himself and Tony snorted. “Tony, I feel like everything I’m about to say are things you’ve heard a million times before. You know that I started falling for you at the hospital but completely fell on the roof. You know that I share pieces of myself with you that I don’t share with anyone else, you know that I cherish your opinions about things even when I disagree, you know all of that.

“So saying that all again felt trite,” Steve continued. “We know how we got here, but I wanted to cover where I think we’ll go next.

“Watching you and Babs and Pepper figure out SI has been incredible and I’m so glad you’re bringing Bruce on board. I love the ideas for the internships you’re developing with Peter and MJ and Wanda. I am excited by all of that, but I’m most excited that Darcy and her team have figured out ways to make sure you can also come home on time. Or, at least once every few days,” Steve grinned.

“Inventing binges are real,” Tony said.

“I know, baby, but so is basic nutrition.”

“We’ll agree to disagree,” Tony replied and heard Pepper mutter _for crying out loud._

“So in light of all of that, here’s what I vow: I will choose you. I will choose your dreams and your passions and your health - mental and physical - and you. I will choose you with every breath for as long as I live. Those words sound simple, maybe, but they’re not. They mean that I vow to love you on days I don’t like you, that I will spur you to be the best version of you, that I’ll walk through the darkest seasons and the most joyful ones. That means whoever we are - fathers, teachers, partners, uncles - whatever title we get, I chose you and that adventure. Whatever it takes, for as long as we both shall live.”

Tony wiped a few tears as Steve finished. He stood on his tip toes and pressed a gentle kiss to Steve’s mouth.

“Well.” Tony cleared his throat. “So glad I get to follow that.”

“I love you,” Steve whispered.

“That is why we’re here,” Tony quipped and winked at his almost-husband. “I never thought I’d get this, you know that. You know how desperate and broken I was and how your love and the love of a lot of people here saved me from myself. You know that I would have settled for the scraps of affection I got from being popular instead of taking the risk to be loved and you know why I took that risk and how it wasn’t just you.”

“I know,” Steve whispered.

“Which is how I know this is real,” Tony continued. “You’ve never been my entire salvation, not throughout this whole process, which is how I knew it was real and I could trust it. I could trust that I could be loved because even on my darkest days when my brain was the loudest liar, you weren’t the only piece of evidence. It helped me trust you more and I’m so grateful. So, to you I promise everything you just promised me. Most of all, though, I promise to keep trusting you and doing the work to keep building what we’ve started here. I promise.”

Tony cleared his throat and then shifted his body. “And to all of you, I also promise that I’ll keep doing the work. That I’ll choose, as much as I can, to believe you when you tell me that you like me, to trust you when you correct me that it’s for growth and not judgement, and to choose you all as well.”

He systematically went down the list - Carol, Nat, Bucky, Sam, Sharon, MJ, Peter, Pepper, Rhodey, Val, Pietro, Wanda, Bruce, Ant - and made covenants with them all. Steve did the same and then it was time for a few to speak back. MJ vowed to keep growing even when she was tired, Carol vowed to be a safe place for each of them to land when things were hard, Nat vowed to kick their ass when they were being lazy, Sharon vowed to protect them, and Sam promised to feed them because thus went their love languages. Pepper and Rhodey vowed to always be family, and the list went on until it was time for Bucky’s vows.

“Mine are pretty simple,” Bucky said to them both. “I vow to love you numbskulls the way I already have been. So I’ll keep your secrets when you need me to, but I’m not holding my tongue if you’re being stupid. And I ask the same of you. For all of us, these vows are two way streets. So I know that as Pep said she’d always be family, she expects the same from you. She expects you to help them raise Emily, like we all expect each other to help us raise whatever child comes to us next - foster, biological, or adopted. So I vow to love you, and I ask you vow to love me. I’ll support this covenant the best I fucking know how for as long as I got breath in my body, and when it’s my time to stand up here, I expect the same from you.”

Somewhere, over Tony’s shoulder, he heard Sharon gasp. _Oh, I bet that’s the first time Buckaroo mentioned marriage. Typical._

“You got it, Build a Buck,” Tony squeaked out around tears.

They’d decided that none of them would make it through the vow process with Ant, so the three men simply embraced and then Ant cleared this throat. “So, let’s make this official, shall we? Do you, Tony, take Steve to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do, oh boy I do,” Tony breathed and slipped the ring onto Steve’s finger.

“And do you, Steve, take Tony to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Steve vowed and swapped Tony’s engagement ring for a wedding ring, slipping the engagement ring into his pocket. Their plan was for Tony to solder it into something for their home.

“Then, by the power vested in me by the two of you and the state of New York, I pronounce you married. Now, kiss each other and let’s get to partying!”

The crowd laughed as the strains of Sara Bareilles' Choose You filled the air and Steve and Tony did, in fact, kiss.

* * *

* * *

_Ten Years Later_

“Dad?”

Tony looked up from his desk and saw six-year-old Eric peeking around the doorframe. “What’s up, buddy?”

“Can I have ice cream?”

“Have you put away your clothes?”

“Yes.”

“Have you put them away like Pops wants them or like Uncle Bucky does?”

Eric shuffled his feet. “I better double check.”

“I would, munchkin,” Tony said, forcing some solemnity into his voice. Fatherhood had brought out the organization monster in Steve. He blamed their binging of Marie Kondo while in the middle of the adoption process for Eric.

A few moments later, Tony heard the front door open and Bucky called out. “Yo, I got about four million pounds of meat in the car, think I could get a hand?”

“That will still not feed everyone,” a female voice responded and Tony bit his lip. Their most recent resident was fifteen-year-old Addison and Tony had never met a more anxious child. She worried about everything and it was a struggle to get her to breathe fully some days. They were still figuring out why.

“I think it’ll be okay, Addie,” nine-year-old Evette replied. Despite Evette not actually being Steve’s biological child, she was a mini version of him. They’d adopted her when she was four and the past five years had been a joy for Tony to watch the girl blossom under their care.

Koinonia Three was the legal name for their house, but everyone called it K3. Situated seven blocks from the original house - still run by Carol and Nat - and fourteen from the second - run by Darcy, Ant, and Bucky (with assists from Sharon and Sam) - K3 was a ramshackle brownstone that was usually loud, frequently cluttered, and absolutely bursting with love. Tony and Steve had two legally adopted children and vacillated between three and six fosters at any given time.

The cook out was for Steve and Tony’s 10th wedding anniversary, and in typical Koinonia fashion, it was going to have too much food because in his 40ish years, Bucky Barnes still hadn’t learned how to buy accurate amounts of food for groups of people.

“MJ and Peter are bringing the baby,” Addie replied. “I don’t want anyone to be hungry.”

“Well, the baby is going to eat baby food,” Evette replied.

“But Peter and MJ eat _a lot,_ ” Addie replied and Bucky snorted.

“You aint’ wrong, squirt. But I still think we’ll be good. Besides, if there’s not, we’ll order pizza. No biggie. Anyway, can you help?”

She must have nodded because soon Tony heard footsteps out the front door and there were a few moments of calm. He went back to typing on his keyboard - he really wanted to get this finished before the party.

“Hey baby,” Steve’s voice interrupted him and Tony looked up to see his obnoxiously handsome husband grinning from the doorway. “MJ and Pete want to talk to us before everyone else loads in. They’re on the back porch.”

“Got it.” Tony rose and reached for Steve’s hand. They laced their fingers together and walked out back. As soon as he saw the couple, Tony dropped Steve’s hand and beelined for five-month-old Madeline. “Hi baby girl,” he crooned as he got a toothless smile from the infant.

“You want to hold her?” MJ asked.

“Your mommy asks the silliest questions,” Tony addressed Madeline as he lifted her from MJ’s arms and nuzzled her with his nose.

MJ snorted. “Transitions nicely to what we wanted to ask you guys about.”

“What’s up?” Steve leaned on the railing and crossed his hands. Tony’s mouth watered slightly at how the move highlighted Steve’s biceps.

“Will you be her godparents?” Peter asked. “Legally, too, we want to ask you guys to take care of her if something happens to us.”

“What about your family, Peter?” Steve asked, clearly not believing what he was hearing.

The man shrugged. “They’re fine and they’d do a good job, but we want her raised here.” He gestured to the house. “With the whole family, the whole gang. And we trust you both completely.”

“Well, we’d be honored,” Tony replied, making eye contact with his husband, who nodded. “Obviously, we’ll also spoil her rotten until your untimely demise.”

“Obviously,” MJ replied.

“Well, that’s settled.” Peter grinned. “You got her for a bit, Tony? I’m going to help Bucky with the grill.”

“Oh, I got her,” Tony affirmed. As the rest of the party poured in Tony wandered from group to group, hugging and laughing with everyone he loved. He raised his eyes at Darcy’s slightly rounded abdomen, wondering if there was an announcement coming. He air-kissed a few times with his Emmybean, who had just gotten back from Paris with Pepper and had decided she was European. He and Bruce and Ant got into a long conversation about the latest swine flu coming out of China and if Ant’s contacts at the CDC were prepared. He ate his weight in Bucky and Sam’s food, drank far too much cider, and put all of his various kids to bed at the appropriate times.

“Decade one down,” Steve murmured as he climbed into bed later that night. “A couple more to go. You still in?”

“Whatever it takes, for as long as we both shall live.”

“I love you,” Steve breathed against Tony’s lips as his hands caressed down Tony’s back. Tony flipped himself to where he was straddling Steve and leaned down over his husband.

“And I love you. Now, less words, more hands.”

Steve laughed and pulled Tony down for a kiss. “As you wish, baby. As you wish.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? I've love to hear them! I have some other works cooking, but stay tuned for 2021 when we'll revisit this one and hear more from Ant and Darcy. 
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/betheflame1) or [Tumblr](http://betheflame.tumblr.com) for more on these yahoos. You can also submit prompts and cajole me into writing faster - it usually works. If you're on Discord, I'm definitely there, too, and probably hanging in the [Put on the Suit Stony Server. ](https://discord.gg/z5WSqbS) Oh! And FestiveFerret and I have a [fandom podcast](http://www.podonthesuit.com) if you're so inclined.  
>   
> 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [collab: betheflame](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23362237) by [kocuria-visuals (kocuria)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kocuria/pseuds/kocuria-visuals)
  * [Wherever There is Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24196852) by [rustbunnies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rustbunnies/pseuds/rustbunnies)




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